Blindsided By Life
by Buffybot
Summary: Sequel to THE CHOICES WE MAKE. The gang is growing up and for some of them that means growing apart. For Tahiri, it means discovering something that changes her entire life.
1. Birthday's Are Highly Overrated

A/N:  This is going to be my last Star Wars story for a while, so I hope you enjoy it.  All types of feedback are welcome.  Flames don't bother me (we all need a little criticism once in awhile).

CHAPTER ONE:  BIRTHDAY'S ARE HIGHLY OVERRATED

        When Luke Skywalker asked Zekk to come by his home late one night, Zekk had assumed it would be some routine mission he was being sent on, like traveling undercover to some of the core worlds to see how far Yuuzhan Vong control had reached.  That was what a lot of Jedi missions had consisted of in recent weeks: landing on a planet, accompanied by a group of Tsirran and see how bad the situation there was before reporting back to Intelligence on Courscant.

Of all things, he had certainly not been expecting the Jedi Master's offer of a top priority mission.

        "Does the council know what you're planning?"  Zekk asked him.

        "No, they don't," Luke replied, letting a small boyish grin show.  "Not yet, anyways.  Fe'y'la along with the rest of the Senate are still worried about the Tsirran – even though they've helped tip the scale back in our favour.  If Fe'y'la knew I was planning on involving the Chiss he would go out of his way to make sure the Jedi were driven off Courscant,"

        "It's that narrow mindedness that's going to destroy the New Republic," Zekk commented.

        Luke chuckled.  "The Senate wouldn't see things from your perspective.  They think they're protecting the people of the New Republic,"

        Zekk snorted but instead of commenting further on the subject, asked, "why do the Chiss suddenly want to help?  The war's been going for nearly two years and they haven't said a word until now,"

        "They know if the Yuuzhan Vong destroy the New Republic, their next target for conquest will be to force those in the Unknown Regions into submission.  The Chiss are too proud a race to admit it openly, but they know their chances of survival will greatly increase if they fight alongside us instead of waiting for the New Republic to crumble,"

        "So what's my role in all this?"  Zekk asked curiously.

        "The Chiss have set up a small military base on Dantooine.  You would be going alone, of course, unless you feel there's someone else who should be brought onboard this mission," said Luke, a knowing look on his face.

        Zekk didn't rise to the bate.  "No, there isn't,"

        "That's fine, because I have something else in mind for the others.  Now, back to your mission," said Luke.  "You'd be taking a small, nondescript craft to Dantooine.  Once there, you'll give the proper code transmission that General Antilles has set up for both sides to prevent any imposters from infiltrating the small base they have set up there.  A Chiss escort will take your down to the surface, where you'll begin negotiations with Baron Sontir Fel himself.  Tell him the situation exactly how it is, and make sure he knows who the Yuuzhan Vong will come after next when they're done with us.

        "The Chiss are an extremely stubborn and proud race, Zekk, and I don't know how well these negotiations are going to go.  Baron Sontir Fel only agreed to come to Dantooine as a favour to Wedge.  But right now we can't afford not to try and make amends with the Chiss.  Any help they will offer is better then what we had going into the negotiations with them,"

        "Are you sure you picked the right person for this?"  Zekk said doubtfully.  Being a Jedi had taught him a lot of useful skills, but one thing he had never had any practice in – and similarly had no like for – was diplomacy.  That's all he needed: to be remembered as the one who screwed up a meeting with the Chiss and ended up costing the New Republic the war.

        "Don't doubt yourself, Zekk.  You've seen what the Vong have done first hand.  And like so many others, their destruction has affected you personally.  The Chiss are warriors, and as much as I hate to admit it, so are the Jedi.  They will respect you for that, more then they would any politician the New Republic could send, and you can use that to your advantage.  I know it's putting a lot on your shoulders, but take a day or two to think about it and then get back to me,"   

        Zekk left the apartment shortly after that, wondering how he would fit in with a bunch of beady-eyed Chiss.  Stories of the late Grand Admiral Thrawn came to him, and he marveled at how a species who created such a monster could be a potential ally.  But Master Skywalker was right.  Any help was better then no help at all.  Things had gone too far for them to picky about who they asked for assistance from, so he pushed his own personal opinion of the Chiss aside.

        Master Skywalker had wanted him to think about it before he made any final decisions, but Zekk already had his mind made up as he boarded the turbo lift.  He was going.   Luke Skywalker had handpicked him for the assignment, and he had no intention of letting him down.  And besides, with nothing tying him to Courscant, why wouldn't he go?

        This was by far the best birthday Jaina Solo had had in a long time.  True, the war was still raging on, and yes, her and Ganner's relationship was far from perfect, and then there was the tension in the room between her brother and Tenal Ka that had been building for weeks now, but she tried to forget about those factors.  Nothing short of an apocalypse could ruin her good mood.

        Her parents had finally broke down and bought her her own ship for her eighteenth birthday.  Her mother had given her the "we think you're responsible enough" speech before Jaina had gone running to inspect her gift.

        She was already planning what modification and repairs she would get to work on once the small gathering with her friends was over, which was any time now.

        After the birthday cake, her parents had respectfully taken off for the evening, dragging Threepio with them, leaving Jaina alone with her brothers, Ganner, Tahiri and Tenal Ka.  Lusa and Raynar had left a short time ago, with both having to catch a shuttle back to the Thul Merchant Trading fleet that night.

        Jacen was opening his last gift, which happened to be a very expensive looking jacket from Tenal Ka,"

        "Thanks," he said to her.  "It's great,"

        "I am glad you like it,"

        The conversation seemed forced and awkward.  Ganner broke the awkwardness when he spoke.

        "I'm sure Jaina's happy that the annoying tradition of opening presents is over so she can get to work on her own gift,"

        She shot Ganner a look.  "I'm in no rush,"

        "Oh, come off it, Jaina," said Jacen, seeing through her act.  "We've only had to listen to you whine about wanting your own ship since you could see over the _Falcon's_ controls, so you better be excited about it,"

        "Does that mean you'll clean up here, while I go play with my ship?"

        "Well –" 

        "Thanks, Jace.  I owe you one," she said quickly and stood up.

        "I never agreed to anything,"

        His protest was useless, because Jaina had already left the living area for her bedroom.  She was frantically searching for her toolbox when she felt her younger brother's presence in the doorway.

        "Have you seen my tools?"  She asked absently, rummaging around in one of her drawers.  "Never mind.  I found them," she said, standing up and turning around.

        "Here," Anakin said to her.  In his open palm he held a tiny, holo recording tape.  

She regarded him curiously.  "What is it?"

        "It's a birthday gift from Zekk.  He asked me to give it to you,"

        It had never crossed her mind that Zekk would even bother with a gift for her.  You don't usually give things to people you aren't on good terms with.  After staring at it for several long moments, she took it from Anakin and shoved it firmly in her pocket, before her curiousity could get the better of her.

        "I'll see ya later," she said to him, then stepped out into the hallway where Ganner was waiting.  Seconds later they were gone; the holo recording in her pocket already forgotten.

        Jacen had never realized how washing dishes could be such a tension builder.  While his sister was off making use of her new ship, he was stuck in a kitchen with the one person he used to think it was impossible to be uncomfortable around.  _At least one of us is having an unforgettable birthday_, he thought bitterly.  

        "I don't know how things got like this," he said out loud.

        "Like what?"  Tenal Ka said drying another dish.

        "Like_ this_," Jacen said emphatically.  "We can't even be in the same room together.  I don't even know what to say to you,"

        "You do not have to say anything, Jacen,"

        He stared at her.  "I lied.  I do know how things got like this: by us not saying anything.  By not telling each other how we really feel,"

        Before Tenal Ka could respond, his grip on the plate he was holding faltered and it fell to the floor, shattering instantly.  Jacen swore as he bent down to clean it up.

        "Hey, what's going on in here?"  Came the voice of Han Solo, who strolled into the kitchen.

        "Nothing, dad.  I just dropped a plate,"

        He picked up on the irritation in son's tone, and understood he had walked in on a private conversation.

        "Where's your brother and sister?"

        "Jaina's working on her ship and Anakin's somewhere with Tahiri,"

        "Why don't you two get out of here?  We'll get golden rod to clean up the mess.  You know how he likes to feel important.  You're only eighteen once, right?" Han said with his usual lopsided grin.

        Jacen cast a look at Tenal Ka and she nodded.  They left the apartment, agreeing to ride the turbo lift up to the garden level.

        "You were right earlier, Jacen," she said, being the first to break the silence as they stepped out of the lift.  "Our failure to be honest with each other is causing us to drift apart,"

        "So what are we going to do about it?"  He asked her as they walked along a path overlooking exotic trees from Bothawui.

        "I think we need a break from each other," she said in a voice so low Jacen was sure he had mistaken what he had heard.

        "What?"  He practically shouted, and grabbed her arm more roughly then he had intended to.

        "Are you telling me you haven't thought of it?" She questioned him.  "I have," she admitted softly.

        He let go of her arm and looked away from her.  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

        "Jacen, I love you, but I think this is what we need right now,"

        "Breaking up isn't going to fix what's wrong," he said stubbornly.

        "I never said I wanted to break up.  We both just need some space to sort things out,"

        "What if we got married?"

        It was Tenal Ka's turn to look as if she hadn't heard right.  "We both know getting married is not the solution.  Would you have even brought up the subject of marriage if we were not in our current situation?"

        "No… I suppose not," he admitted at last.  "How long is this break going to last?"

        "I don't know,"

        He walked away from her and settled down onto a nearby bench.  He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair, a habit that he had not grown out of whenever he was nervous or restless.

        "I did not come to this decision over night.  I have been thinking about it for some time now," she said, following him over to the bench.

        "Since Belkadan," 

        Tenal Ka nodded.

The ship ride to Belkadan had triggered an argument between them that had led to accusations on both their parts that neither could take back afterwards because it had been the truth they had spoken.

Tenal Ka knelt down in front of him, taking his hand in hers.  "It is the right thing to do, Jacen.  You know that as well as I do,"

"Yeah, well, that doesn't mean I have to like it, does it?"

"You are entitled to be upset,"

Despite the situation, Jacen laughed, but it had no real laughter in it.  "Of course I'm upset, but you seem to be taking this perfectly fine, as if your telling me you're leaving on a trip and will be back in a few days,"

He saw her cringe at his words, and knew it had been a cheap shot, but he didn't want to be the only one suffering.

"Do you want to see me cry, is that it, Jacen?  You don't think this is equally hard for me,"

Now she did look about to cry and he regretted his earlier comment.  "No, that's not it – "

"I should go," she said and turned to walk away.

"No, I'll go," Jacen said quickly and stood up.  He may have said some harsh things, and he maybe he should have handled the situation a lot better, but she wasn't going to be the one who got to walk away.  He walked away from her, and was grateful when she didn't try and get him to stop.  The only time he turned around to look up at her was when he was in the confinements of the turbo lift.  And not even the sight of her tear streaked face made him hesitate in closing the lift doors and feeling the need to get as far away from her and everyone else as fast as possible.


	2. Jedi Don't Get Days Off

CHAPTER TWO:  JEDI DON'T GET DAYS OFF

"Are you planning on telling me where we're going?"  Tahiri asked as they walked along the crowded streets of the Promenade.

        Anakin smirked at her.  "Don't you trust me?"

        "Is that a rhetorical question or do I have to answer it?"

        "I just thought we could grab something to eat.  There's never really any time for us to go out anywhere, and I remember how mad you got that time when I told you I'd meet you for lunch and never showed.  So, I thought maybe we could have, you know, like a real date," he said with a shrug of his shoulders, trying to pass it off as no big deal.

        Tahiri pretended to be shocked.  "I never thought Anakin Solo had a romantic side,"

        "I never said I was paying,"

        She elbowed him in the ribs.  "You are if it's a real date,"

"Sorry, but saving the galaxy isn't a well-paying job," he joked as he avoided another elbow.

He continued leading the way to a small café at the end of the street.  Tahiri recognized the place he was taking her as _Chez Courscant_.  The line up nearly half a block long helped to identify it.  She appreciated him making the effort to take her to such a nice place, but she would have long since starved if they had to wait in that line up to get in.  But instead of waiting in the line, he grabbed her hand and led her to a small podium just inside the doors.  She could feel the anger radiating from the beings that had been waiting in line for more than an hour as she and Anakin cut right to the front.

The bothan hostess at the podium looked at Anakin in mild annoyance.  "I'm sorry sir, but you have to wait in line like everyone else," he said with irritation as if her had already several other waiting guests the same thing.

His tone didn't faze Anakin.  "I have reservations.  Check under Solo,"

The bothan scrolled through his data pad and then when he looked back up at Anakin and Tahiri, his entire manner had changed completely.  "Yes, you are on our list.  Please follow me.  We have the spot you requested in our outdoor patio,"

They followed the bothan to the outdoor café area, Tahiri more than a little suspicious as to how Anakin was able to acquire reservations.  Usually, one needed to make reservations months in advance for this place, but Anakin had never said anything about it to her before.  Her curiousity continued to mount as they followed the bothan to the patio area.

Their host led them to a table by a beautifully designed wrought iron fence, allowing them to see out onto the streets in front of them.  He left two menus with them and said a waiter would be along shortly to take their orders.

As soon as Tahiri was sure their host was out of earshot, she said, "okay, fess up, Anakin.  How did you manage to get us reservations at the most exclusive café on Courscant?"

        He shrugged, innocently.  "I had some free time on my hands a few days back while I was fixing the holonet at home, when all of the sudden I found myself in _Chez_ _Courscant's_ reservation list.  You're not mad, are you?"  He said, seeing the look on her face.

        "No.  In fact, I was wondering when you were finally going to get around to putting those ingenious computer skills of yours to good use,"

Anakin laughed and Tahiri found her good mood increased until she looked at the menu and saw the prices.  "Anakin, you can't pay for this,"

"Of course I can,"

"No you can't, and half the population of Courscant combined can't either,"

"Listen, Tahiri, when are we going to find ourselves on Courscant again, or any planet for that matter, with the opportunity to spend an uneventful evening together?  Probably not for months," he said, answering his own question.  "I may end up being my parents slave for the next ten years to work this off, but it'll be worth it," he assured her.

He was right.  They should probably enjoy it while it lasted.  She couldn't even remember the last time her and Anakin had managed to find time alone together.  There was always something going on, some world about to be destroyed, someone in danger – 

The thought had barely registered itself in her mind when she felt the all too familiar prick on the back of her neck that meant trouble.  _You have got to be kidding me_, Tahiri thought in exasperation.  She tried to shrug it off, hoping it was just her imagination, but the feeling only got stronger, as if the danger were getting closer.  She glanced at Anakin, who looked at her apologetically before taking out his lightsaber from a hidden pocket in his jacket and jumping over the wrought iron fence.

Grimacing about the injustices of the galaxy, Tahiri took out her own concealed weapon before taking off after Anakin.

When she caught up to him, he was standing at a street corner in deep concentration, trying to find the source of the disturbance.

"This way," he said and took off without waiting to see if Tahiri was following him.

They could see no immediate danger on the streets in front of them, but when they reached a darkened alleyway, the commotion coming from it was enough alone to make them ignite their sabers, making visible the three other humans in the alley.

The shocker was when the female, dressed in all black, took out a weapon that turned out to be a lightsaber.  The two males looked at each other, their expressions fearful at having three lightsabers being aimed at them.  They went to run for it, but a force shove by the woman slammed them into the wall and knocked the two of them unconscious.

She looked back at Anakin and Tahiri, as if registering their presences for the first time.  "Just your average muggers," she said indicating to the two still forms on the ground.  Seeing their lightsabers similarly ignited, she pushed back a loose strand of blond hair and said,  "you're Jedi too?  Nice to meet you.  I'm Lex,"

"I knew if I came to Courscant I'd be able to find help," Lex said to the room full of Jedi.  Anakin and Tahiri had brought her back to Luke Skywalker's apartment after witnessing the way she had handled herself against the two thugs in the alleyway.  For her part, Lex had been more than willing to see the Jedi Master, claiming she had vital information to tell him.

They had waited for everyone else to show up, excluding Jacen and Tenal Ka because nobody seemed to know where they were, before Lex proceeded with telling them her reasons for coming to Courscant.

"I was doing some smuggler runs a few weeks back on Borleias.  I don't let people know I'm a Jedi, but there was this group who cornered me there and I had no choice but to break out my lightsaber and fight them.  That seemed to be what they wanted because the second I took out my weapon they brought out a bunch of ugly-looking creatures in cages and I couldn't use my Jedi abilities," 

        "Ysalimiri," said Anakin.

Lex looked at him, puzzled.  "Never heard of them," 

"Their a creature native to the planet Myrkr," Anakin explained.  "They create a ten-meter-radius bubble that prevents force users from using the force,"

"I guess that's what this group had.  I'd never seen that creature before in my life.  It weakened me and I was knocked unconscious.  I woke up in a cell somewhere.  They told me I was going to be taking part in some research they were conducting.  They were introducing hosts – they called them symbiotes – into human and alien bodies that would control their minds and actions.  I think I was the first force sensitive person they'd captured, and they wanted to see how the results would turn out,"

"How did you get away?"  Tahiri asked.

"Luck," Lex said with a shrug.  "They got some new guards who were sloppy – forgot to bring in their Yasmir – whatever you call those creatures – when they brought me my food and I took them out.  I bolted out of there knowing it might be the only chance for escape I got,"

"What did the symbiote look like?"  Ganner said.

"I never got to see one for myself, but the way they were describing it made it sound like some sort of leech that would attach to the host's back and from there, take control of the spine and work its way into the nervous systems until it had complete control of the brain,"

"Who were the people running the facility?"  Anakin said.

"They weren't Yuuzhan Vong, if that's what you're thinking," Lex said to him.  "They were human – same as you and me,"

        "I think we should check it out," said Jaina.  "The Tsirran have taken the Vong off our hands for the time being, so I say we use the time to infiltrate this operation on Borleias before things get really out of hand,"

        "The situation already is out of hand," spoke up Zekk.  He was standing by the window aloft from the others since the meeting began.  "This isn't a Jedi operation – it's military.  It isn't our job to go play commando and spy,"

        "Last time I checked it was – especially if innocent people are involved," Jaina shot at him.

        "I believe it is worth looking into," Luke cut in.  "We didn't even know this was going on until Lex brought it to our attention.  Our being blind to these experiments can only make them that more dangerous if we refuse to look into them," he said to those present.  "But it's late.  We will all think clearer in the morning once we have had a good night's rest.  Then we'll discuss more about what actions need to be taken concerning this problem in the morning,"

        Tahiri got up to leave with the others, when Master Skywalker's voice stopped her.  "Tahiri, would you mind staying behind for a minute?"

        She nodded silently, knowing what was to come.  Ever since he had found out about her cutting herself, he thought they should spend time every once in a while talking.  It was either that or talk to some stranger therapist about how she had died, been resurrected by the Vong, and then had started cutting herself because the pain had become too much to handle.  Given the choice, she had been more than willing to choose Master Skywalker.  Though it had been awkward at first, he hadn't been judging and that's what had caused her to open up to him over time.  It wasn't the same as talking to Anakin, but that's what made it sometimes easier to talk to someone she was not as close to.  She didn't have to worry about hurting his feelings or offending him.

        Anakin knew about her 'therapy' lessons with his Uncle.  She had told him about them right from the start.  She felt he had a right to know.  From the moment she had told him about her ordeal with death, and the heartache of seeing her parents again, he had been nothing but supportive.  Though he had never said anything to her, she suspected he was the reason behind the rumours around the Jedi Academy about her wanting to kill herself had stopped.

She watched the others vacate the room, but none faster then Zekk she noticed.

        He could feel her following him the instant he left the Skywalker home.  He was hoping she would turn around and leave him alone but she didn't.

        "That was a pretty good act you put on back there, Zekk.  Pretending you didn't know me,"

        "What are you doing here, Lex?"  He said coming round to face her.

        "Are you deaf?  Didn't you hear a word of what I said back there?"

        "I heard it.  I'm just not sure I believe it.  I wanted to bring you back here when I found you, remember?  But you told me you didn't want to get involved,"

        "I changed my mind.  Being kidnapped twice can do that to a person,"

        "Do you want me to feel sorry for you, is that it?"

        "I don't want your sympathy, Zekk.  I just want you to believe me – you know I wouldn't make this up,"

Zekk turned to walk away, not bothering to voice whether he believed her or not.

        "So that was Jaina Solo, huh?  She's even prettier then you made her out to be,"

        "Can we not talk about her?"  He growled, growing irritated.

        "She doesn't know about us, does she?  She doesn't know about what happened on Bimmisaari?"

        "No, she doesn't.  And the two of us aren't exactly on really great terms right now – in case you hadn't noticed.  So there's no point in me telling her,"

        "From what you've told me about her, she'd want to know,"

        "Lex, just do me a favour and don't say anything to anyone, okay?"

        She shrugged.  "Have it your way,"

        Without saying good-bye, he turned his back on her and boarded the nearest turbolift.  It occurred to him as he rode the lift down to the lower levels, he should have asked her if she needed a place to stay.  And maybe if he weren't in such a foul mood he would have actually cared.


	3. Denial

CHAPTER THREE:  DENIAL

        Luke waited until everyone had vacated the apartment before he pulled Tahiri into his office and spoke to her.  She did not look nearly as uncomfortable as she used to when they first started meeting in his study.  In the beginning, she had been too humiliated at the thought that she needed counseling to say much of anything.  Granted, she had probably been more than a little intimidated at the thought of having to share her most personal thoughts and feelings with her Jedi Master.  Luke had felt the only way for them to get passed that hurtle was for him to share with her some of his more painful memories: seeing his Aunt and Uncle burnt to skeletons; losing his best friend, Biggs all those years ago; finding out Darth Vader was his father; joining the dark side to secretly destroy the clone Emperor; and even losing Callista.  Sharing his past mistakes and sorrows had given Tahiri the confidence to share her pain with him and had led them to build a relationship based on trust, and that none of what was said by either of them would leave that room.   Unfortunately, he had a feeling that his months of progress with Tahiri would deteriorate once he told her what he had to say.

        "I know you're still worried about me, Master Skywalker.  But I'm doing a lot better.  Honest,"

        He had asked her to call him Luke for their sessions, but she had insisted on sticking with 'Master Skywalker'.  It would have made things way too weird otherwise, she had told him.

        "I know that, Tahiri.  I can see you've come a long way, but there's something else I needed to talk to you about tonight,"

        Puzzled, she sat in silence, waiting for him to continue.

        "I've already decided to follow up on what Lex has told me.  Jaina, Zekk and Ganner will be accompanying her to Borleais to investigate these experiments.  I had something else in mind for you and the others, but I wanted to be fair and give you a choice first,"

        "I don't understand.  Why would I want a choice?"

        Luke picked up a data pad off the desk and started scrolling through it.  "Trianaa is a planet that was uninhabited until about a month ago when a large number of refugees were given it to make their new homes on.  As of now, there are only three hundred or so refugees living there, but the Senate is hoping to triple that number shortly.  The only reason more refugees have not been brought there is because a series of violent attacks within the last couple of weeks has made the military anxious that something was missed when they took their initial survey of the planet.  Because of the over crowding numbers of refugees straining the resources of other worlds, the Council wants to start sending more refugees to Trianaa despite the military's adamant protests against it.  Since the Council outranks the military, they've given the soldiers stationed there one week to solve the problem before more refugees begin arriving."

        "What a bunch of idiots," Tahiri remarked.

"Idiots or not, something must be done to prevent more lives from being lost.  I've contacted Captain Baxter on Trianaa and told him I would be sending in a team to help deal with the situation.  I took the liberty of gathering some information about the planet and making a list of the colonists to aid you in your investigation there," Luke said, holding out the data pad to her.  "I didn't discover this until a few days ago, but I think you should take a look at it,"

        Tahiri looked at him curiously, but took the data pad from him regardless.  She let her eyes travel down the names of colonists until they landed on a name Luke had highlighted: _Erik Veila_.

        "I honestly don't know what it means, Tahiri.  I couldn't find a whole lot about him in the archives except a birth date and some classified medical records about injuries he sustained in a Yuuzhan Vong attack six months back.  I know I should have asked your permission first, but I had Cilghal run his DNA against yours… they match," he informed her.  Looking at her seriously, he said,  "the birth date supports the evidence that he's old enough to be your father,"

        "Well, he's not," Tahiri said, roughly shoving the data pad back into the Jedi Master's hand.  "My father died when I was four.  I _saw_ him and my mother die.  I may have only been a child but I remember it clearly.  Besides, I told you when I died I saw my parents.  _I _was with my father.  This guy – DNA match or no DNA match – is not my father,"

        "Tahiri, like you said, you were very young when your parents died," Luke said gently.  "You don't even remember what their names were and that didn't change after you died and saw them.  What I'm saying is maybe you saw someone else,"

        "I know who my parents are," she insisted stubbornly.  "Cilghal should run her tests again because there wrong,"

        "It is possible," Luke conceded, though he did not sound at all convinced that Cilghal had made a mistake.  "I still thought you should know before I sent you there.  I'll understand if you would rather not go.  I could put Jaina in your place instead.  But I really think you should go and find out who this Erik Veila is.  You may spend the rest of your life regretting it if you don't,"

        "No, I won't, but that's not the point.  I'll go because you asked me to and that's all.  Is there anything else?"   

        "No, that's all.  I'll see you back here in the morning to give you the full details of your mission,"

        Without another word, Tahiri exited the room and left the apartment.  She didn't want to hear anything else Master Skywalker had to say.  She was torn between the fact that that Cilghal's tests had come back positive and the fact that she knew in her heart her father was dead.  Even so, that did little to help rid her mind of the name Erik Veila.

It was after midnight when Tahiri strolled up to the door leading into the Solo residence.  She had tried sleeping, but two hours of tossing and turning were enough.  She needed to talk to someone and it couldn't wait until morning.

She didn't want to wake everyone else up, so she silently called to Anakin.  A groggy response of acknowledgement was what she received.

        Two minutes later, the apartment door opened, revealing a sleepy looking Anakin, scratching the back of his head.

        "Tahiri, it's almost one in the morning, what are you doing here?"

        "I needed to talk to you,"

        "And it couldn't have waited until we're supposed to be awake?"

        She had never noticed before how much of a grouch he could be when he was tired.  She supposed she would be the same way if someone had interrupted her normal sleeping hours.

        "Can I come in?  It's important,"

        He gestured for her to come inside and shut the door behind her.  She was about to speak when he whispered, "not here,"

        He led her to his bedroom and closed the door behind them.  No one should be able to hear them now.

        When they sat down together on his bed, even being half asleep, Anakin became conscious of the extremely short pajama shorts and top she was wearing.  She had a jacket on over top but that didn't cover her legs.  He realized they hadn't been alone in his room together since they had started dating.

        "What?"  She said, when she caught him staring at her.

        "Nice pajamas, Tahiri," he told her.

        He couldn't see her face in the dark, but he could imagine how red it must be turning.  She shifted uncomfortably and pulled her jacket tighter around herself.

        "What's going on?"  He asked her.  It wasn't normal for her to come knocking on his door in the late hours of the night.

It was on the tip of her tongue, waiting to come out.  That's what she had been waiting for; to tell someone about what Master Skywalker had told her.  But it all seemed so unreal she wasn't sure how to say the words.

"My dad might still be alive," she blurted out.

Anakin took the news a lot better than she thought he would.  "How is that possible?" 

"I don't know," Tahiri said, getting up and starting to pace, while explaining to Anakin the data pad his uncle had showed her and telling him about the DNA match Cilghal had run.  "But so what if they match?  Maybe he's some long lost uncle or something?  Or maybe Cilghal messed up the tests?"

Of course, the chances were nil to zero that Cilghal had messed up, but Tahiri was reaching for any explanation she could get that would prove that man wasn't her father.

"Have you even considered the possibility that maybe he is?"  Anakin said after some time.

She wanted to yell at him.  He was the one person who was supposed to be on her side.  "But he isn't," she insisted, though with not as much force as she would have liked.  "It's impossible.  I saw my dad being murdered, and if that's not enough, I saw my dad when I died.  He is dead," she insisted, sitting back down beside him.    

"Maybe the man who you thought was your father isn't your father.  It is possible, Tahiri.  You've told me yourself dozens of times how few memories you have of your parents,"

She hated to even consider it, but what if Anakin was right?  What if that stranger on the data pad was her real father?  If that were true, was the woman she had seen die even her real mother?

She became aware of Anakin pulling her into a hug and she let him.  They stayed like that for some time, just letting Anakin hold her, until he broke the silence, saying, "We'll figure this thing out," he promised her.  "In the morning, I'll see if I can find any more information on Erik Veila.  But for now, you should get some sleep.  I'll walk you out,"

        "Can't I stay here, with you?"

Anakin hesitated.  "Tahiri, that's not a good idea.  Remember what happened the last time we fell asleep together," he reminded her, referring to the time a few months back they had stayed out all night, and had been grounded from seeing each other.  "If my parents woke up and found you in here…"

        "I'll be gone long before that happens," she promised him.  "Please?"

        He caved like she had known he would.  "We can't make a habit out of this, you know," he said as they laid back on the covers.  She snuggled up close to him and closed her eyes.

        "We won't.  It's just a one time thing, I promise,"

        Unlike before, she was fast asleep, safe in the confinements of Anakin's arms.

        It was almost five in the morning when Tahiri quietly crept out of Anakin's room, making sure to close the door behind her.  She wanted to stay but she was well aware of the consequences they would both face if she were found there.

        She made it past the kitchen when she saw a shadow moving in the dark.  She held her breath.  Someone was awake.  Slowly, she crept forward, hoping to make it to the door or at least somewhere she could hide until it was safe to leave – when she felt someone behind her.  She whirled around just as a hand clamped shut over her mouth.

        "Tahiri, it's only me," the shadow said as she struggled to break free.

        The hand was removed from her mouth and her eyes adjusted to the dark, allowing her to make out the form of Jacen.

        "What are you doing here?"  She hissed.

        "_I_ live here.  What's your excuse?"

        He saw her cast a glance back in the direction of Anakin's bedroom and shook his head.  "Never mind.  I don't want to know,"

        "What?  No, it's not like that," she tried to convince him.  "I needed to talk to him,"

        "And you came over here barefoot and dressed like that?"

        Feeling self conscious at his comment, she pulled her jacket tighter around herself.  "You're not going to say anything to anyone are you?"

        "As long as you don't mention my coming home slightly before dawn,"

        She looked at his clothes.  He was indeed just getting home.  "Where have you been?  Everyone was looking for you earlier,"

        "I was around,"

        That wasn't much of an answer, but it would have to do.  Right now, getting out of there before anyone else noticed her was her top priority.

        "I better get going," she said.

        "See you in a few hours,"

        She had only gone a few steps when his voice stopped her.

        "Tahiri?"

        "Yeah?"

        "Nice pajamas,"


	4. Childish Behaviour

CHAPTER FOUR:  CHILDISH BEHAVIOUR

        Sleep seemed to elude Jacen, and even though he had just gone to bed a few hours earlier, he thought it was time to get up.  Anything was better then lying in his bed, staring at the ceiling and thinking about last night.  Tenal Ka sure had given him a birthday he wouldn't soon forget.  

He had spent last night walking through the lower levels, taking many of the paths that he, Jaina and Zekk had often used, in an effort to try and clear his head.  It didn't work.  Neither did stopping by one of the more seedy cantinas and throwing back a few drinks.

        He walked down the hall to the 'fresher, and from the living area two unmistakable voices could be heard.  Ignoring them, he walked into the fresher, showered, changed and headed for the kitchen as if nothing was wrong.  He felt them pause briefly when they were alerted to his presence before continuing with their conversation.  He was reminded of a similar situation back on Hapes a couple of years back.  But he wasn't going to run out this time.  This time, he wasn't the one who had done anything wrong.

        Without needing to hear the door close, he knew Tenal Ka was gone – and that meant he knew where his sister would go next.  He wished that for once – just once – she would mind her own business, but he knew Tatooine would experience an ice age before that happened.

        "Hey," she said, appearing at the doorway.

        He didn't bother replying, instead choosing to occupy himself with pouring a glass of juice.

        "I heard what happened," she said softly.

        "And it's such interstellar news I'm sure it'll reach Hapes before the day's over.  I'm sure it'll make T'a C'hume's day,"

        "She feels terrible, Jacen,"

        "I bet she does,"

        "Do you think this was an easy decision for her to make?  She had to do it because she knew you never would,"

        Jacen slammed his glass down on the table, causing juice to slosh over the side of it.  "She's the one who said we needed space, and here she is, showing up at my home the very next morning,"

        "Your home?  In case you haven't noticed, four other people live here too," she reminded him.  She crossed her arms over her chest.  "Sounds to me like you acted like a big jerk last night," 

        "Did she say that?"

        "No.  That was my own personal opinion I came up with," she said to him.  When he made no further comment, she said, "Jacen, she's one of my best friends.  You can't expect her to stop coming by because you two are on a break,"

        "And we all know the next step after break is breakup,"

        Jaina had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes.  "That's not true,"

        He said nothing, leaning on the edge of the counter, sipping his juice as if she wasn't there.  She was trying her best not to get angry at him; sure that his current act was a way for him to hide the pain he was feeling, but his nerf herder attitude was making it extremely difficult for her to not take Tenal Ka's side on this one.  As much as she wanted to stay, in case he decided to open up to her – which did not seem to likely in his current state – she needed to get to the landing bay.  She was leaving for Borleais in the next twenty minutes, and she could not let personal problems get in the way of the job she had to do.

        "I have to go," she told him.  "Uncle Luke called this morning.  He wants me to go with Lex, Ganner and Zekk to Borleais," she explained to him.  She wasn't going to say anything more, but she couldn't resist putting in her two cents.  "Maybe if you get over yourself, you'll realize that this mess isn't all Tenal Ka's fault.  It takes two people to make a relationship work, Jace,"

         She grabbed her belongings and hurried out of the apartment, hoping her words would sink in with him and he would start acting like the brother she knew and loved.

"Everything looks good," Zekk announced as he performed the last of the preflight checks.

        Jaina settled into the copilot's chair beside him, after rather reluctantly having handed over the controls to Zekk for the sole purpose that her Uncle had put him in charge for this mission.

        They were using a nondescript cargo ship that would not be tracked back to them or the Jedi.  Jaina would have preferred this opportunity to try out her ship, but she was well aware of how important it was that no one knew who they really were.

        "Where do you know Lex from?"  She tried to ask casually, while she checked the navigational instruments as they lifted off the landing pad.

        "Who says I know her?"

        "I do.  I can sense it.  You and her – "

        " – is none of your business," Zekk finished for her.  "Something that I hear from you quite often,"

        Jaina shrugged indifferently.  "It's not like I care.  All I'm interested in is can we trust her?"

        "Yes," he answered without looking at her.

]       "Are you sure?"

        Silence.

        She was growing frustrated with his evasiveness.  "If there's anything I should know…"

        "I'll be sure to tell you,"

        "I'm going to check on our passengers,"

        "You do that," he said, punching in the coordinates for hyperspace and waiting for the clock to tick down to zero.

        When he was sure she was gone, he relaxed back in his seat.  He didn't really expect Jaina to mind her own business – he hardly ever did when she told him to.  But as long as Lex kept her word, everything would be fine.

        He still didn't understand why Luke Skywalker had insisted he come along to investigate the activities going on on Borleais.  Three Jedi – two of whom were fully trained, should have been enough, leaving him free to travel to Dantooine and begin talks with the Chiss.  He had voiced this to the Jedi Master, and he had simply told Zekk that the Chiss could wait a few days or even a week.  When Zekk had looked ready to protest some more, Luke had admitted that this was the path that Zekk had to follow first.  Whatever that meant.  But he would follow what Luke had said, regardless of the fact that he thought it was pointless to be brought onboard for this mission.

        Tempers were running high between him and Jaina, and in his mind that was an added distraction he did not need right now.  It was next to impossible for them to carry on a conversation without one or both of them getting all riled up.  He would be glad when this assignment was over and he could gain some distance from her.  He was tired of everything.  Tired of feeling guilty and tired of her punishing him every chance she got for things he had a hard enough time forgiving himself for.

        He could look forward to being Jaina Solo free in a week at most – hopefully less.

Only the gentle humming of the engines could be heard inside the walls of the _Falcon_.  It had taken Anakin a whole day of begging just to get his father to consider the idea of lending him his beloved ship for their assignment.  In the end, his father had only agreed to it because Anakin had laid it on thick about taking a New Republic shuttle with minimal weapons with as much maneuverability as a Hutt.  Of course, if any harm came to the craft it would be on Anakin's head, and handing himself over to the Yuuzhan Vong would be a fate preferable to facing his father. 

Slowly, he descended down the ladder of the starboard gun well, wanting to give Tahiri a chance to adjust to his presence.

She heard his unspoken question in her mind, and said, "No, stay.  I like having you close by,"

        "You're thinking about him," Anakin said after several long moments.

        Leave it to Anakin to point out the obvious.  "Yeah," she said, nodding thoughtfully, continuing to stare out at the streaks of stars.  "I just don't understand how it could even be possible, but now that I've had some time to get used to the idea that my father might still be alive, a part of me can't help but feel relieved and even a bit happy,"

        She spun the chair around to face him.  He had a look on his face she had seen many times when he was debating whether or not to say what was on his mind.

        "What is it Anakin?"

        He hesitated before speaking.  "I think it's great your dad might still be alive.  I'm happy for you, I really am.  No one deserves this more than you.  I just – " He stopped himself in mid sentence.

        "_Just_ what?" 

        "If this Erik Veila does turn out to be your dad, why hasn't he tried to contact you over the years?  Why would he let you think he was dead?"

        Of all people, Anakin was the last person she would expect to try and ruin her happiness.  A part of her felt betrayed at his words.  "How do we know he hasn't?  Or maybe he couldn't?  Did you ever think of that?"

        "I hope you're right,"

        She was growing angrier by the second.  It felt weird to find herself defending some complete stranger, but like she had said, a part of her was already beginning to accept that Erik Veila might be her father.  Anakin had no right to say those things when he had as little information to go on as she had.  With that last thought in mind, she pushed passed him and disappeared up the ladder.  Not surprisingly, Anakin climbed up right after her.

        "Tahiri, I just don't want you to get your hopes up, that's all," he was saying as he joined her back out in the main corridor.  "The image you have of this guy may be all wrong.  I mean you have already have a family, who loves you and cares about you,"

        "That's easy for you to say," she shot at him.  "You've always had both you're real parents.  Sure, maybe you didn't see them a whole lot when you were growing up, but you still had them.  Even when you and your dad were having problems, he would have been there for you if you needed him,"

        The resentment in her voice was unmistakable.  "Are you mad at me because my parents are alive?"

        "No.  I'm mad at you because you take them for granted," she said before storming off.

        Anakin watched her go.  Passed experiences had taught him it was better to let her cool off before he made an attempt at talking to her.  But he had no intentions of apologizing for speaking the truth, even if Tahiri didn't want to believe it.  If he had known how defensive she was going to get, he might not have said anything at all.  But he knew Tahiri, and he knew how her mind worked.  Now that the idea of Erik Veila as her father had sunk in, she was beginning to think of the possibilities.  He hadn't said it to hurt her, but she needed to know that there was another side to the story.  That Erik Veila may not have the good reasons that she thought he had for staying away from her all those years.

"Way to go, little brother,"

        Anakin turned and faced his brother.  "Shut up, Jacen,"

        "You could have tried being just a bit more sensitive,"

        "You should try minding your own business," Anakin snapped.

        "If you two kept your voices down, I wouldn't have to,"

        "You're the last person who should be giving out advice considering your botched relationship with Tenal Ka,"

        Without even realizing it, Jacen had his hands on Anakin's shoulders and shoved him backwards.  But his younger brother was stronger then Jacen had realized, and he didn't stumble back too much.

        "At least I'm not the one having a midnight rendezvous with my girlfriend,"

        "What's that supposed to mean?" Anakin demanded, too angry to be embarrassed.

        "Is everything all right?"  Asked a new voice.

Tenal Ka stood ten feet away from them, one hand resting on the hilt of her lightsaber, in case she had a reason to draw it.  Or maybe she was hoping she looked threatening enough that the two brothers would back down without her having to force them apart.

        "Fine," they both snarled and backed off somewhat from each other.

        Anakin purposely bumped hard into Jacen's shoulder before walking back towards the direction of the cockpit.  Without looking at Tenal Ka, Jacen took off in the opposite direction.

        He had just passed her when she said, "is this how it is going to be with us?"

"I thought this was what you wanted," he said, keeping his back to her.

"I never wanted you to be angry with me,"

        "Well, we don't always get what we want, now do we?"  He sighed wearily and turned so his gaze met hers.  "Look, I'm doing this mission with you because it's my job.  I won't let our problems interfere with what has to be done.  But that doesn't mean we have to pretend being around each other isn't awkward or uncomfortable because it is.  You want space and that's what I plan on giving you," 

        Then he walked away.


	5. Two Can Play At That Game

CHAPTER FIVE:  TWO CAN PLAY AT THAT GAME

Stomach growling with hunger, Zekk left the cockpit for the first time since leaving Courscant.  Despite the little annoying fact that he couldn't stand half the people he was stuck with, even Jedi had to eat.

        He made it to the galley without bumping into anyone along the way, but once there, he came across Jaina and Ganner sitting together, eating and talking.

        _Great_, he thought to himself, _Now, I'm going to starve to death_.  There was no way he was sitting down with the two of them and eating a meal, pretending everything was fine.  Jaina looked up briefly when she saw him before turning back to Ganner.

        He had a half a mind to turn around and grab something later, but an idea struck him and he walked straight passed the galley, heading for the private cabins.  He knocked on the one he knew Lex was in.

        She looked surprised to see him.  "Are we there already?"

        "No.  I was just wondering if you wanted to grab something to eat with me,"

        She looked surprised.  "I thought you wanted me to stay away from you,"

        "That's not it at all.  You just surprised me, showing up here like you did, that's all.  I'm sorry for what I said.  Now, do you want to get something to eat, or not?"

        She sighed.  "Sure, why not?"

        Zekk led her back to the galley and pulled out a chair for Lex and himself in front of Jaina and Ganner.

        Ganner looked at him in annoyance.

        "You don't mind, do you?"  Zekk asked.

        "Yes, I do mind,"

        Zekk acted like he hadn't heard him.  He grabbed himself a steaming bowl of Corellian stew.  "What do you want?"  He asked Lex.

        "Stew is fine," she told him.

        "So what did we interrupt?"  Zekk said, grabbing a bowl for Lex, and ignoring the scowl Jaina was sending him.

        "Nothing," said Jaina, picking at her own meal.

        "It looked important, the way you two were talking in hushed voices," Zekk persisted.

        "We were talking about my birthday.  Does that satisfy you?"  She snapped.

        "Oh, right.  I forgot about that.  So you're what, seventeen – eighteen, now?  I heard you got your own ship," he said, shoving a forkful of stew into his mouth.  "I guess mommy and daddy finally decided you were mature enough, no that's not right – sorry, I meant to say 'old enough' to finally have your own,"

        Jaina turned her iciest glare on him.  "And what would you know about being mature enough, Zekk?"

        "Plenty.  So does Ganner.  Maturity is what happens when you get to be as old as he is,"

        Ganner was showing surprising restraint, and merely clenched his jaw in response to Zekk's comment.

        "Anyways, back to your birthday," Zekk said turning back to Jaina.  "I remember for your fourteenth birthday I got you this necklace and you loved it.  Even though you never wore jewelry, you'd wear it all the time.  Didn't I just seeing you wearing it a few days ago?"

        "You need to get your eyes checked, Zekk.  I threw that piece of junk back into the trash where you got it from a long time ago," she informed him.  _Two can play at your little game, Zekk._

But Zekk either wasn't at all bothered by what she had said or was just doing a good job of hiding it.

        "You know how you asked me earlier how I know Lex?  Well, a while back I met her Ord Mantell  and we got involed," he said, putting an arm around Lex and refraining from wincing after she stomped on his foot.  "I wasn't going to say anything," he went on, "but it shouldn't bother you, right.  I mean, you're the one who told me that we were over and not to come back.  And you'd obviously moved on yourself with Ganner while I was gone.  It's good to see that we've both moved on,"

        She looked angry – and maybe even a bit hurt.  Good.  He opened his mouth to say more, when Lex grabbed his arm and pulled him up from the table.

        "Excuse us," she said sweetly, before pulling Zekk down the hall and out of earshot.  "What the hell was that?"

        Zekk feigned innocence.  "What was what?"

        "The only reason you asked me to go eat with you was so you could pit me against Jaina,"

        "Lex, you're overreacting,"

        "Am I?"

        "Jaina just needed a taste of her own medicine for a change,"

        "I'm not going to be a part of whatever stupid game you're playing with Jaina," Lex told him.  "So next time you get a brilliant idea on how to get back at your ex-girlfriend, leave me out of it,"

        After that, she walked back to her cabin, letting the doors close shut behind her.

        Zekk shrugged as he made his way back to the cockpit – bypassing the galley completely.  Lex might be mad it him, but in his mind it had been worth it.__

        Trianaa was a small moon, whose planets it orbited were desolt and had been devoid of life for centuries.  Few records remained to tell the story of the civilizations that had once ruled there.  Over time, it seemed that drought and disease had finally overwhelmed the primitive humanoid race, leaving the moon the only habitable place in the system – yet it remained unpopulated until a short time ago.

        A light rain was falling when Anakin and the others descended down the _Falcon's_ boarding ramp.  Despite the weather, there should have been someone there to meet them.  Their landing alone should have alerted at least a few people.  

        "For a settlement of nearly three hundred people, it sure is quiet," Anakin remarked.

        "Perhaps recent events have made many of them decide to stay indoors," said Tenal Ka.

        Anakin considered this.  From what little information they had to go on, there were supposedly a series of violent and gruesome deaths that had started happening from almost the point when the colony on Trianaa had been established.

        Tahiri spoke up from behind Anakin.  "Someone's coming,"

        With his force-enhanced vision, Anakin could make out the military uniform of a New Republic soldier heading their way.  When he got closer, he could make out the rank of captain.  This must have been the Captain Baxter his Uncle had spoken with.

          The soldier looked the Jedi over and frowned slightly.  Anakin found himself frowning as well when he got a look inside the man's head.  He was thinking they were a bunch of kids and wondered if the New Republic had not deemed this a serious enough problem for sending them.

        "I was under the impression Luke Skywalker himself was coming,"

        "He sent us in his place," Anakin informed him.  He wasted no time in jumping into things.  "Do you want to fill us in on what's been going on here?  Our own information is pretty vague,"

        Baxter looked them once over before saying, "I think I better show you,"

        The minute they set foot in what the New Republic military was using as a morgue, Jacen was glad he had skipped breakfast.  It was not as if he hadn't seen death before – he had seen it many times before, in fact – but his instincts were warning him that what he saw here would be ten times worse then any other victim he had seen before.

        "I hope you haven't eaten recently," Baxter said before opening a large freezer door and pulling out a two and a half meter long tray with a sheet draped over top.  He pulled back the sheet and Jacen heard an audible gasp from someone in the room before his own response kicked in.

        To say the victim had been mauled would have been a severe understatement.  The open gashes on the legs and arms looked crude, as if they had not been done with overly sharp claws, yet were still deep enough to cause a significant amount of blood loss.  Numerous contusions and bruises lined the left side of the face, indicating that perhaps the victim had taken a great blow to the head during the struggle.  Those were injuries Jacen could handle, but never before had he seen such a grotesque mid section of a body – human or otherwise.  The chest cavity had been ripped open, but not in the same way as the other open wounds on the body.  There was a distinct pattern to the marks on the skin, and Jacen could swear they looked just like – 

        "Those aren't teeth marks are they?"  Came the shaky voice of Tahiri.  She had gone almost as pale as the sheet covering the corpse in the last few minutes.

        "From what the few specialists here have been able to determine, they are bite marks," Baxter confirmed.

        "They don't look overly sharp to me," Anakin observed.  "I think the person would have to be dead before the creature could, well, you know..."

        "Eat him," Tahiri finished, absolutely horrified by the thought.

        "Has anyone actually seen theses creatures?"  Tenal Ka asked.

        The captain shook his head.  "We've figured out they only hunt at night, but the only ones who've come close enough to it were brutally mauled to death.  We've tried sending out teams but they've got us every time we got too far into the forest," he said to them.  "There is one man who survived, but he's barely hanging on as it is, so we haven't been able to get anything out of him,"

        "Where is he?"  Jacen said.

        "A small shuttle came and took him to a medical facility on Fondor.  He's in critical condition there.  They don't think it's likely he'll pull through,"

Anakin frowned.  "If this place is so dangerous, why don't they send a bunch of ships and evacuate everyone?"  

"Because the New Republic doesn't have the resources to evacuate a population of less than three hundred, on a planet with a few nasty creatures, when entire worlds are being taken whole by the Yuuzhan Vong," the soldier explained to them.

        As much as Anakin wanted to be angry at the way the politics of the New Republic seemed to work these days, he had to put himself in their shoes.  They would see a couple of hundred deaths as acceptable if they were able to save a planet full of, say, thousands, maybe even millions.

        "And whether or not we stop what's going on here they're planning on sending more refugees here in a week," said Tahiri.

        Captain Baxter nodded.  "That's the situation were in.  The military can't spare the extra officers, but when I managed to get a communications through to Luke Skywalker and explained the situation to him, he was willing to lend us a few of his Jedi to help resolve the situation – and hopefully before the next shipment of refugees get here,"

        "I don't understand how the Council can approve that when they know how dangerous it is here," said Jacen.

        Baxter shrugged.  "I've long since given up on trying to understand diplomats.  It gives me a headache.  The only thing I understand is we have a situation on our hands that needs to be taken care of in less than seven days,"

Anakin looked thoughtful.  They had their work cut out for them here, and with the creatures being nocturnal it was going to make it that much more difficult to spot them considering they had no idea what these beasts looked like.

        "When did the attacks start?"  Tenal Ka inquired.

        "About two weeks ago," he began.  "We heard some noise coming from outside but by the time we got there, we were too late.  Two of the villagers were dead.  Once we learned their hunting patterns, we had everyone shut up inside by dusk, and that usually kept them safe, but their have been some incidents of break-ins,"   

        "Has anyone tried matching the attack patterns and teeth marks to any indigenous life forms on the planet?"  Asked Jacen.

        "We tried that first and came up empty.  We even took some salvia samples found on the bodies and they came up blank.  Then we started running the statistics against any possible matches in the New Republic archives,"

        "Did you find any?"

        "Yeah, several thousand,"

        Anakin sighed.  "Then we're going to have to try something else, aren't we?"

        "I'm open for suggestions.  We've tried everything we can think of here,"

        "For one thing," Anakin began, taking charge, "we should keep looking through the archives and narrow down the search matches as best we can.  We should also set up a perimeter around the settlement, and do a quick patrol of the area before dark, to see if we can find anything useful.  Once the sun sets, we'll split up into teams and take turns doing a sweep of the area,"

        No one seemed to have a problem with Anakin's plan and they all set upon their own tasks.  Baxter said he would brief his men and have a team ready to go out at sundown.  Jacen volunteered to look over some of the other victims to in case anything had been missed.  Tenal Ka was going to stay inside and begin the tedious job of narrowing down the search matches.  Tahiri said she would go do the patrol around the area.  Anakin had offered to go with her, but she turned him down, saying he should stay behind and work out setting up a perimeter with the other officers.  He didn't argue with her, which saved her the trouble of having to come up with an excuse as to why she did not want him with her.  She suspected, though, that he already knew what she was up to, and either respected her enough not to comment on it in front of everyone, or simply wanted to avoid another argument with her.  Either way, she already had her mind made up, and no one, not even Anakin could do anything to change it.

        Tahiri had been wandering around the settlement for the last couple of hours, doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing.  She checked for anything amiss and questioned any of the villagers she came across, though she had already known they would not be of much help.

        She felt slightly guilty for not having paid more attention to her task.  She knew how important it was to find any piece of information – no matter how small – that might prove useful.  But her mind wandered often and after awhile she stopped asking people about the vicious attacks and instead asked where she would find the residence of Erik Veila.

        It didn't take her long to find it.  The beauty of such a small settlement was everyone knew who everybody was and therefore she got accurate directions on the path to follow to find his home.

        When she reached it, she was standing in front of his door without even remembering walking there.  She hesitated for several long moments before finally knocking.

        She thought about running, and no one would have to know what happened.  But once she found the courage to move her feet, the door opened.  

        The man who stood there looked to be in his late forties, wearing simple black pants and a collared shirt.  His hair that had once been sandy blonde was thinning and filled with white hairs.  He was rather tall and Tahiri had to look up to see his emerald eyes.

        "Can I help you?"  He asked her, pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

        When Tahiri found her voice she said, "I'm looking for Erik Veila,"

        "You've found him," he said with a broad grin.  "What can I do for you?"

        A thousand different responses filled Tahiri's head, but none of them sounded right to her at that moment.  Suddenly saying, _I'm your daughter_, sounded stupid.  

"I'm… just letting you know I'm one of the Jedi that was sent here to investigate the brutal deaths that have been occurring.  Is there anything you can tell me about them?"

        "I don't know a whole lot, except they seem to prefer nighttime, and from what I've heard they don't make any normal animal sounds that anyone I know has ever heard,"

        He went on, talking about some of the victims and where they had been found, but Tahiri tuned the rest out.  All that she seemed capable of understanding was this stranger was her father and he had no idea who she was.  When he was finished, she thanked him for his time and then left.  When she walked away, she waited until she heard the door shut behind him, before wiping away the tears that had started falling down her cheeks.


	6. Undercover

CHAPTER SIX:  UNDERCOVER

        The constant rain on Borealis had plagued Zekk and his group from the moment their ship had entered the planet's atmosphere.  His shoulders ached from the constant climbing the rough terrain demanded, and he was soaked to the bone.  He was beginning to wonder if the others thought as he did: that Lex really wasn't all that sure of where she was leading them.  She had never given the specific directions, insisting to them she knew how to find it, she just didn't know how to describe how to get there.

        "What I don't understand," Zekk spoke up as they trudged on, "is if this place is as bad as you say it is, why hasn't the local government put a stop to it?  You can't be the only person that escaped,"

        "I don't know," Lex answered with an exasperated sigh.  "Maybe the government's in on it to," 

        "It wouldn't be the first corrupt government we've come across since the war started," agreed Jaina.  "War makes people do some pretty stupid things,"

        Zekk didn't bother with a response, but in his mind he was thinking their mission had barely started and already Jaina and Lex unintentionally – or maybe they were doing it on purpose – seemed to team up on him every chance they got.  Of course, his behaviour the other night on the ship probably had something to do with that.

        They lumbered on in silence, until they reached a particularly high ridge with enough cover to prevent what lay below from seeing them.

        "It's about time," Zekk muttered to no one in particular.  He was peering down at the two humans standing guard at a cavern entrance leading into a cave.  With the rain, he was able to tell there was a force field surrounding the entrance because every once in a while when enough water collected on it, the force field would make small sparks.

"Looks like there's only two of them," said Ganner, peering through a pair of electrobinoculars.

"Lex and I will take care of them," Zekk said, removing his blaster from its holster.  "Keep your comm. channel open, we'll tell you when the coast is clear,"

Jaina opened her mouth to protest and then shut it, thinking better of it.  Whether she knew Zekk was trying to goad a response out of her or she was simply too cold and wet to argue, Zekk never found that out as he and Lex climbed down the ridge.

As much as Zekk hated everything about the Shadow Academy, much of what he had learned in his stealth training there had helped him and Lex reach the base of the cliff unnoticed.  He had a feeling the rest of his training would come in handy very soon.

"So what's this brilliant plan of yours?"  Lex asked in a low voice.

"Just trust me,"

She leaned back against the rock of the mountain.  "You don't have one, do you?"

"Look, just follow my lead," Zekk said and grabbed her arm.

"Right, that makes me feel loads better," she mumbled, letting him drag her over to the guards, who immediately aimed their blaster rifles at them.

"Hold your fire," Zekk snapped at them.  "I found this girl lurking around the caves here,"

Lex feigned struggling relentlessly in his grasp.

"Who are you?"  One guard asked.

"I'm the one who's going to have you cleaning every 'fresher in this facility for your questioning of a superior officer,"

"Name and rank," the guard on the left said.

Zekk sighed in frustration.  "Captain Jac Quinn, Beta Team,"

"Why are you out of uniform?"

"That's classified," Zekk told him.

"I'm going to have to call the general,"

"Fine," Zekk said with an impatient wave of his hand.  "But can it wait until we're inside?  I need to question this girl and find out if she's working alone or if there's others still out there,"

The guards looked at each other hesitantly.

Forcing an irritated tone, Zekk said, "unless you want to stay at the rank of private for the rest of your lives, I suggest you let me in,"

Reluctantly, one guard hit something on his belt and a small section of the force field dropped.  Fuming, Zekk hauled Lex inside the doorway, muttering about disrespectful junior officers.  

As the force field closed behind them, the younger of the two guards said, "I'll have to call the General now, sir.  He'll want to know about the intruder,"

"That won't be necessary," said Zekk, revealing his blaster and shooting the guard holding the comlink.  Then he took out his partner before he could move more than a step. 

Following Zekk's lead, Lex joined Zekk in putting on the guards' clothes.  

"You almost had me fooled that you were one of them," Lex commented, picking up one of the two blaster rifles.

"Let's just say I'm a good actor,"

"You haven' t been practicing for this moment, have you?"  She asked him.

"A lot of this infiltration stuff I learned back when I was at the Shadow Academy.  As much as I've tried to forget it, I'm kind've glad I haven't,"

"Me too,"

He and Lex dragged the guards around to the other side of the mountain, camouflaging as best they could in a thicket of bushes.  By the time they got back around to the cave entrance, Ganner and Jaina were jogging towards them then, and Zekk pressed the same switch on the remote he'd seen the guard use to lower the shield earlier.

        "What's next?"  Jaina asked, taking in the military uniforms they were wearing.

        "You play the part of our prisoners," said Zekk, aiming his rifle at Ganner.

        Ganner shoved the weapon aside.  "Just because this is your mission doesn't mean we have to go along with every crazy idea of yours,"

        "Fine, Rhysode.  Walk in there with your civilian clothes and see how far you get,"

        After some thought, Ganner turned around and grudgingly laced his hands behind his head.

"Just don't get trigger happy, Zekk," Ganner warned him.

        "I wouldn't dream of it," Zekk replied, shoving the rifle a little harder than necessary into his back.

        "Let's go," said Lex, keeping Jaina in the same position that Zekk had Ganner.

        Inside was damp, but at least they were out of the rain.  They must have passed by dozens of people but no one said a word to them.  They followed a path that seemed to lead deeper underground.  There were several small bunkers they came across, and Zekk indicated to one that appeared to be empty.  "In there,"

        He led the others inside and once they had completed a quick search for anyone or any surveillance devices, he locked the door.

        He found some spare tunics similar to the ones he had seen the others wearing and tossed one each to Ganner and Jaina.  "Put these on,"

        Amazingly, they obliged without protest while he and Lex kept watch on the door.

        "If we break into teams we'll be able to cover more ground that way," Jaina said to them after she had finished changing.

        Zekk shook his head.  "Splitting up is not a good idea.  Sticking together – "

        "Will take way too long to find what we're here for," she finished.  "Besides, walking around in a group of four might look suspicious.  Everyone we've seen so far is in groups of two or much larger,"

        "We don't even know where to start looking," 

        "I think Lex's description of a bunch of crazy scientists trying to turn ordinary people into hosts gives me the impression that we're looking for a large laboratory, probably hidden on one of the lower levels.  We passed by a lift on the way here,"

        Zekk sighed.  He wasn't going to win this battle.  "Fine.  We'll split up, but keep your comlink on in case you find anything,"

        Jaina nodded.  "Lex is with me.  Zekk and Ganner, you're together.  We'll meet back here in two hours.  Is there a problem?"  Zekk was glaring at her.

        "No, no problem," Zekk answered through gritted teeth.

        Ganner did not look anymore happy about the situation then he did, but remained silent.

        "Good," she said and moved for the door.

        Before Jaina could open the door Zekk said, "just try and stay out of trouble, okay?"

        He was looking at the both of them when he said it, but he was speaking more to Jaina then to Lex.

Jaina knew that.  "Don't I always?"

        Then they were gone.

        Zekk and Ganner waited five minutes before leaving as well.  With Jaina and Lex taking the lower levels, he and Ganner would have the upper ones to explore.  

        Zekk had a bad feeling about splitting up.  But he knew they could cover more ground this way, because the longer they stuck around the more likely it was that they would be found out or someone would notice the guards missing at the entrance.  He wasn't sure why he had wasted his breath telling Jaina to be careful.  Because more often then not, the words 'trouble' and 'Solo' were interlinked.


	7. Not Quite Human

CHAPTER SEVEN:  NOT QUITE HUMAN

        Night had fallen on Trianaa.  As Baxter had promised, he had a group of soldiers ready to go out on patrol with the Jedi.  They had split into pairs and Jacen was beginning to wonder if it was such a good idea that he had agreed to be partnered with Tahiri. He was trying to concentrate on picking up anything unusual, but it was getting to be next to impossible with the cascade of emotions being broadcast by her.

        "Sorry," she apologized, picking up on it.  She took a deep breath.  "Better?"

        "A little.  Do you want to talk about it?"

        "Not really, no,"

        "Is it Anakin?"

        "No,"

        Her tone suggested otherwise but he made no comment.  Instead he asked, "is it your father?  Sorry, I overheard you and Anakin on the ship,"

        He could feel her growing irritation beside him.  "I told you I didn't want to talk about it,"

        "As long as your distracted state of mind doesn't get us killed, that's fine,"

        They continued on in silence for some time, until Tahiri finally spoke, nearly making Jacen jump.  "I went to see him today," 

        "How did it go?"

        Her shoulders sagged.  "I couldn't do it.  As far as he knows, I'm just one of the Jedi here to take care of the refugees."  She looked up at him.  "What do you think I should have done?"

        "Tahiri, it's not my place to tell you what you should or shouldn't do,"

        "Well, I'm asking _you_ to tell me what you would do in my place,"

        Jacen ran a hand through his unruly hair, trying to figure out a response without sounding like he was trying to tell her what to do.  "I think you should tell him who you are," he said at last.  "You have a right to know why he's kept away from you all these years.  And you owe it to yourself to find out if you want him in your life or not,"

        She said nothing and kept walking.

        "But that's just my opinion," he added afterwards.

        "I know and that's just what I asked for," she said with a smile.  "I'm just afraid that when I go to him it's going to change everything,"

        "Nothing has to change if you don't want it to.  Remember, it's up to you to decide whether or not you want him in your life,"

        She shrugged.  "I s'ppose,"

        "Do you want to tell me how we ended up partnered together?"  He asked, changing the subject.  "Not that I mind, I just assumed you would want to be with Anakin,"

        "Tenal Ka and I decided it would be better this way.  And putting you and Anakin together probably isn't the greatest idea either,"

        "You don't think we would get along?"

        "I _know_ you wouldn't get along.  You would say something stupid or Anakin would – "

An ear-piercing scream stopped Tahiri in mid-sentence.  A half second later, lighstabers ignited, she and Jacen were racing towards the source of the noise.

In the outskirts of the settlement, they found a man's body sprawled out on the ground; crimson fluid was oozing out from the numerous wounds he had sustained.  There was so much blood, they could barely make out the features on his face.

Jacen frantically searched around for any signs of the attacker, but saw nothing except a rippling of leaves that lead into the forest.

        Tahiri crouched down beside the badly mauled body and felt around for a pulse.  "He's still alive.  Barely,"

        "Get help," Jacen told her and took off for the forest, ignoring Tahiri's protests for him not to go after the creature alone.  He plunged headlong into the woods.  This might be the only chance they got to capture one of the creatures alive.

        It couldn't have gone that far.  He was sure of that.

        He ran hard through the bushes, careful to keep his lightsaber out in front of him in case of an attack.  Realizing his mistake of plunging noisily into a dark, unfamiliar setting, he slowed down his pace to a light job.  The deeper he moved into the woods, the more cautious his movements became.

        Maybe it had not been such a smart idea to go after it alone.  He had no idea how far he had traveled from the settlement.  He had lost all sense of direction.  He could have been traveling in circles for all he knew.  He stopped his pursuit of the creature momentarily, reaching out with his senses, hoping to find it close by.

        It turned out to be a lot closer than he expected.

        High above him in the trees, a dark blur came shooting straight at him, pinning him to the ground.  White fangs hissed at him.  With his free hand, he shoved the creature off of him.  He was anticipating on a few free seconds to grab his lightsaber, but the creature rammed him almost instantly, dropping him to his knees.  It must have been surprised that Jacen dropped that quickly because it stopped, giving Jacen the opportunity to get out of the way of its attack and lunge for his lightsaber.  He swung the deadly blade in a wide arc, knowing it would slice the creature in half – but he hit nothing but thin air.

        "What the – "

        He was alone.  The creature was gone.

        The only thing that could be heard then were the sounds of booted feet running towards him.

        "You could have been killed.  You should not have gone after it alone," Tenal Ka reprimanded him, as the settlement's doctor, Dave Trentholm, checked him over for injuries.

        Anakin was silent beside her.  He wasn't commenting on the foolish risk his brother had taken, because Jacen was sure he would have done the same thing.

        "What did it look like?"  Anakin asked.

        He winced as Trentholm touched a particular sore rib.  "Human, but altered somehow," he answered.

        Tenal Ka frowned.  "What do you mean?"

        "It _looked_ human, except for the fact that it was a dirty, wild mess and no human should have the strength it had.  When I reached out to it with the force I didn't get any clear thoughts, just raw emotion.  It nearly made me pass out," Jacen explained to them.

        "Their running the blood sample we found in the lab right now.  We're almost positive it belongs to your attacker.  It might take a day or more for the results.  Our equipment here isn't too great," Baxter said, walking into the room.

        "In the meantime, I think we should continue checking the planet's databanks," Tenal Ka suggested.

        Anakin nodded in agreement.  "Tenal Ka's right.  Maybe we'll find an occurrence of a plague or some natural disaster that caused the deformities,"

        "Maybe it's not so natural," Tahiri said darkly.

        Anakin caught her meaning.  "The Vong?"

        She shrugged.  "If the boot fits…"

        "We'll know more when we get the test results.  But the idea of Vong interference doesn't seem too far fetched to me," said Jacen.

          Shortly after, they split up for their respective sleeping quarters.  For Tahiri, though, sleep was the farthest thing on her mind.  But it had little to do with her father this time, and everything to do with the creature Jacen had encountered that night.  She had a feeling she already knew what those test results would show when they came back.


	8. Startling Discoveries

I know it's been awhile since I last updated (no, I hadn't forgotten about the story), but I've been busy with school and my computer is a mess.  Hopefully, now I'll be able to update again on a regular basis.  Enjoy!

CHAPTER EIGHT:  STARTLING DISCOVERIES

        It was rather easy for Jaina and Lex to board the first turbolift they came across.  It required a keycard to operate it, one that Jaina had managed to acquire from a guard that was safely subdued in a utility closet somewhere.

        She inserted a card into the open slot and went to press the button for the lowest level but Lex stopped her.

        "What?"

        Lex didn't respond.  Jaina watched as her hand hovered over the keypad before pressing a seemingly empty spot below it.  A glowing button was revealed and the lift began to descend.

        "Not bad," Jaina remarked.  "How did you know that, if you don't mind my asking?"

        "I didn't,"

        "I can live with that," said Jaina, watching the numbers of the floors drop as they descended lower and lower.

        She took out her lightsaber, but didn't turn it on.  Lex did the same, and Jaina did her best to hide her surprise that she had such a weapon despite never having trained at the Academy.

        When the lift arrived at their designated level, they both pinned themselves against the wall on either side of the cart – in case of any unexpected visitors.  They tensed when the doors slid open, but nothing happened – no one got on.  A quick check with the force revealed no one in the near vicinity.  Jaina signaled to Lex and the other woman followed her out of the lift.

        "Which way?"  Jaina whispered when they came to a junction in a corridor.

        "Why are you asking me I've never been down this far before?"

        "Fine, I'll pick – "

        "No.  Let's go left," Lex said quickly and went ahead.

        Jaina was left with no choice but to follow, though a quick check with the force revealed Lex really had no idea where they going.  _This is going to be fun_, Jaina thought sarcastically.

        After walking in silence for some time, they could make out the distinct noise of boots on metal.  They quickly flattened themselves against the wall in an adjoining corridor as a group of soldiers walked passed.

        Though Jaina only saw them for a brief moment, out of the six she saw only two really looked like soldier material.  She was no expert in the area, but she knew in her gut there was definitely something wrong with the picture she just saw.  She had no further time to dwell on the thought because as soon as the coast was clear, she and Lex came out from hiding.

        Jaina was beginning to wonder if maybe Lex had guessed wrong and they were going the wrong way when they came across two, large steel doors.  Beside them, a pulsing panel was attached to the wall.

        Jaina stared intently at the computer panel.  It looked configured to read DNA.

        But DNA could be manipulated and computers could be fooled.

        Jaina placed her hand on the panel and reached out with her senses until she was able to convince the system she had the clearance to enter the room.  The doors parted with a loud groaning sound, allowing Jaina entrance.

        "Wow," Lex said seemingly impressed as she followed her in.

        "I've had a lot of practice," Jaina told her.

        The walls were bear on either side, but as they rounded the first corner they came across the wall turned into transparent windows on their right side.  The two women ducked immediately to avoid being seen before peering over the small section of the wall that was providing them with cover.

        What Jaina saw looked like something out of those old holonet horror films that Anakin used to make her watch when they were younger.  But this was ten times more frightening because it was real.  Humans in lab coats were filing about the room, some subduing other humans and aliens who were fighting to break free from the restraints holding them to their bunk, while others appeared deep in concentration as they focused on attaching a round, slimy-looking _thing_ – that was the only way Jaina could describe it – to the lower back of several different candidates.

        Jaina found her instincts taking over and was almost on her feet when she forced herself to stay where she was.  She turned around and sat on the floor with her back to the wall.  As much as she wanted to run in there, swinging her lightsaber to free those people she had to be realistic.  She wasn't sure how far the room extended and she couldn't see every inch of it, which meant there might be other soldiers somewhere inside.  She was only one person, and had no idea how good Lex was with a saber.  And walking into a room full of danger was not the way she wanted to find out.

        She fumbled for her comlink in her pocket and brought it to her lips.  "Is anyone there?"

        "Jaina?" Ganner's voice came back to her.  She dialed down the volume so only she and Lex could hear it.

"Where are you?" Zekk's voice came on.

"I think Lex and I found their little lab,"

"Get out of there," he told her.

It was pointless to give a comlink a dirty look but that didn't stop Jaina.  "Zekk, there's people in there – "

"And there's people _here_ looking for us.  In the last twenty minutes, Ganner and I have seen patrol after patrol of guard marching the complex.  From what we've been able to gather, they found the bodies we left by the mountain,"

"Sithspit," Jaina swore.

"We need to regroup and then work from there.  There's no point in mounting any rescue when they're out looking for us,"

"All right.  We'll meet you – "

Jaina was cut off by the sound of blaster fire aimed high above her head.  The comlink fell from her hands as she swiftly drew her saber to defend against the next onslaught of shots.

A bombardment of blaster fire was coming at them from both ends and did not take Jaina long to figure out that the bolts coming out from the weapons were stun beams.

Above them, the ceiling opened up and several cages dropped onto the floor in front of them.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Jaina muttered in between blocking shots.

The nutrient cages each housed a single ysalimiri, but all it took was for one to create a force bubble that prevented a person from tapping into the force.

Lex had only dealt with the creatures once before, so it did not take long for one of the blue stun beams to break through her defenses and render her unconscious.

With no one watching her back, and without the force to keep her movements quick and precise, the situation was completely of control.  Ganner and Zekk would never reach her in time.  But she wasn't about to give up without a fight.

And she put up a good one – until that inevitable blue beam hit her square in the back and then in her shoulder and then – nothing.

Ganner and Zekk were already hurrying towards a turbolift as fast as they could without drawing any unwanted attention to themselves.  They had just lost contact with Jaina, but not before the sound of blaster fire could be heard.

They found a lift, but there was a guard standing watch outside it.

Despite the sense of urgency they felt, the two Jedi walked calmly towards it.  The guard blocked the lift when they reach it.

"All turbolifts are off limits without proper identification," he told them.

"There's intruders somewhere in here and you've got the lifts off limits?"  Zekk said incredulously.

"I need identification in order to give you access,"

"You're wasting time," Zekk said, focusing his attention on the blaster rifle the guard was holding.

"If you don't show me the proper ID I'll have to report you,"

"That won't be necessary," Ganner said, and reached for his saber.

At that moment the blaster the guard was holding exploded in the face of the guard, rendering him a bloody, unrecognizable mess.

"What did you do that for?"  They both shouted at each other.

"He was going to blast us," Ganner said.  "I was just going to take out his weapon and knock him it.  You didn't have to blow him up,"

"That wasn't the plan.  I was heating up the blaster so he would drop it.  It wouldn't have exploded if he hadn't fired it because he saw you reaching for a weapon," Zekk argued.  "Look, I think it's time for a change of plan.  We have to face the facts: without proper identification we're going to be stopped at every point.  We'll never make it to Jaina and Lex or out of here for that matter,"

"So, what's your plan?"

"I know I can get us out of here but you're going to have to trust me,"

Ganner made a noise.  "Zekk, I've already trusted you enough today to last me three lifetimes,"

"I'm going to turn you in and you pretend that dead guard is me, then that'll leave me free to move around here and figure a way out,"

"That's a bad plan,"

"Dammnit, Ganner, would you put your hate of me aside for two seconds and accept that my plan is the only way we're going to get out of here alive,"

More then reluctant, Ganner agreed.

"If you see Jaina and Lex tell them what I told you.  But make sure you tell them I'm not dead,"

Ganner was more than a little lost.  "What?"

"We don't know what we're up against here so I'm gonna have to cut myself off from the force completely incase they have anyway of detecting it,"

Looking at Ganner, he thumbed his comlink on and spoke into it.  "I've got one of the intruders on level six by the turbolift,"

He got an affirmative response back and then turned it off.

It took less than sixty seconds for a dozen troops to meet him and Ganner.

"I hope your plan works, Zekk," Ganner muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

Zekk didn't respond.  He pushed the end of his blaster rifle into the other Jedi's back and shoved him forward.


	9. One More Surprise

CHAPTER NINE: ONE MORE SURPRISE

After the latest attack, the New Republic soldiers stationed on Trianaa, were more paranoid and anxious then when the Jedi had first arrived on the planet two days earlier. They seemed convinced, along with the new settlers that the attacks were becoming more frequent and closer to the settlement.

Tahiri didn't know what more they could do to ease the fears of the villagers. She and the others went out patrolling every night, but since the first night when she and Jacen had been out and found that victim, they had not seen any signs of the creatures. Where she was taking that as a good sign, the residents of Trianaa were not. They seemed to be even more on edge. Some were insisting that the Jedi go out into the forests and find them. Tahiri was glad to see she was not the only one amongst her friends who was against that idea. Even Anakin, who hated sitting around waiting for something to happen, felt it would be unwise to engage the creatures until they learned more about them.

Tenal Ka had sent salvia samples that had been found on the latest victim, back to Courscant, but it might be days before they had the results. In the meantime, all they could do was continue with their nightly patrols and keep going through the databanks to see if they had missed anything.

That's exactly what Tahiri had been doing, and after sitting in front of a computer for hours on end, she felt like she needed a walk to clear her head. And it was from more then just endless hours of research.

At midday, the settlement was full of people going about their daily business, trying to accomplish any and all tasks before nightfall, now that Captain Baxter had imposed a curfew of sundown on the settlers. He was trying to avoid any unnecessary risks.

She had been unable to think of much else since seeing Erik Veila in the flesh that day on his doorstep. Why had she gone to the trouble of tracking him down if she couldn't tell him who she really was? She kept replaying in her mind what Jacen had said about owing it to herself to give him a chance. It had taken hours of contemplation for her to finally convince herself that Jacen was right. She deserved to know who her father was. She deserved to know why he had abandoned her.

Though she had only been to the residence of Erik Veila once, she had the directions to get there memorized. It seemed to take her twice as long as before to reach it, and the knot forming in her stomach grew larger with every step she took. The only difference this time was there was no hesitation before she reached up and knocked on the door. She knew what she came there to do and there would be no stopping her this time – not even the nauseous feeling in her stomach. 

The home's owner was prompt in answering his door, and when he saw Tahiri standing there, he gave a brief smile. "Hello again," he greeted her. "I hope your here to give me some good news about what's behind those attacks,"

__

I do have news, but I don't know whether you're going to think it's good, Tahiri thought silently. "I'm not here about the attacks," she said slowly, and before she could lose her nerve altogether, she blurted out, "I'm Tahiri… I'm your daughter,"

When she had pictured in her mind what his reaction would be, it would initially be shock. But that look would quickly transform into a huge grin and he would pull her into a hug, insisting that he had been looking for her for years and had almost given up all hope of ever finding her. It was funny how the mind could play tricks on you like that. Really, what were the chances of that happening? Smiling looked to be the farthest thing on his mind as he stared at her wide-eyed in disbelief. His shock slammed into her like a slab of duracrete.

When he finally found his voice, he choked out a strangled, "Tahiri,"

She couldn't even bring herself to nod her head. She simply stood there, watching his reaction. If there had been any doubt in her mind before that this man couldn't be her father, it was erased when she saw the way he was looking at her as if she were some sort of ghost. The tears welling up in his eyes mirrored her own.

She was powerless to resist as he reached out to her and pulled her into hug. She didn't know how to respond, so just stood there, letting her father hug her. It was a long while before either of them spoke, but when Erik finally found the strength to pull away from her, it took him several extra moments before he finally managed to speak.

"Tahiri," he said again, saying her name as if were a new word he had just discovered. "Your - your all grown up,"

"I'm nearly sixteen,"

She was surprised at how steady her voice was when she spoke.

"I can't believe it," he said, running a hand over his jaw in amazement. "It really is you. Will you come inside?"

She couldn't remember saying yes, or giving any sort of response, but she was dimly aware of her legs following him inside. She was grateful when he offered her a seat on an old- looking sofa, because she was not sure how much longer her legs would be able to support her weight.

"You look so much like your mother, I don't know why I didn't catch it the first time you came by,"

"It would have made things a lot easier on me if you had,"

"You have her sense of humour as well,"

There was nothing more Tahiri wanted to do than hear him talk about her mother, a figure she knew so very little about. Nothing except wanting to know how he had escaped death all those years ago.

"I spent my whole life thinking you were dead," she said suddenly. "I - I saw my father die,"

"You saw a man die, but he wasn't your father. He was your stepfather,"

She was grateful that she was sitting when he told her this. "I don't understand,"

"When you were almost two," Erik said, coming over to sit beside her, yet leaving a comfortable distance between them, "your mother and I divorced. It was my fault. Before I had met her I had dealings with the Hutts. I wasn't exactly a smuggler but I did their dirty work for them. I didn't tell your mother I was involved with them until we got engaged,"

"My mother," Tahiri interrupted, "what was her name?"

"Tara," Erik smiled reminiscently before he remembered what he was trying to tell Tahiri. "Your mother," he continued, clearing his throat, "said she was going to call off the wedding if I didn't break it off with the Hutts. I tried. I really did, but back then it wasn't an easy thing to break a contract with the Hutts. So I lied to your mother, telling her I broke it off and we got married. She was a Jedi, so I always thought she knew I was lying but was too in love with me to confront me on it. I should have known it would be hard to keep her from finding out – and she did, right after you were born. She was so angry with me and when she found out everything I had done, she was left with no choice but to leave me. She let me see you whenever I wanted but she moved on and a couple of years later married a nice guy named, Cris.

"I finally decided that I was going end things for real with the Hutts. I made them so angry when I finally broke away from them that they came after my family. Your mother and Cris were killed and I thought you had been too until I went back there and didn't find your body,"

"How come you didn't come back for me?" She found herself holding her breath while she waited for his answer.

"I did, but by the time I got there you were gone. I thought I had lost you too. I didn't know whether they had killed or kidnapped you. I spent four years trying to find you,"

Her heart leapt at hearing he had tried to find her. Anakin was wrong. He had looked for her.

"The reason you found nothing is because I was living with a tribe of Sand People for that time,"

He looked horrified. "Those merciless creatures had kept you all that time?"

"No, it wasn't like that. They protected me and I became a part of their tribe. Don't ask me how that happened. I still don't understand it,"

Erik Veila shook his head. Of all the places he thought his daughter had ended up, it had most certainly not been with a tribe of Tusken Raiders.

"I left Tatooine eventually," he went on, "wanting to find some other world where I could forget about what I had done. I still haven't forgiven myself for all the pain and death I've caused," he said in a hoarse voice. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I lived on Bilbringii until the Yuuzhan took it over and then I was sent here to make a new home from scratch. But I don't want to talk about me anymore, I want to know about you. You're a Jedi, just like you mother,"

She wanted to burst out and tell him everything, but forced herself to be patient. The easiest way would be to start from the beginning. "When I was nine, this Jedi, Tionne, found me on Tatooine and when she realized I had force potential brought me back to be trained at the Jedi Academy on Yavin Four. She and Kam, another Jedi, adopted me shortly after. I'm not a Jedi Knight yet," she added somewhat bitterly, "but I will be soon," 

Erik was smiling. "You know, I kept a lot of her things, even after all these years," he said to Tahiri. "Wait here for a moment," 

He left the room and returned a few minutes later.

"I know she would want you to have this," he said, holding out his hand and handing her a long, metallic cylinder shaped object.

Tahiri felt her fingers close around the cold metal. Her mother's lightsaber. 

She wanted to ask what kind of a Jedi she had been, had she been a guardian of the Old Republic, but the sound of a door opening caused her to stop. She found her thumb hovering above the power switch on her mother's weapon until she deemed through the force that the intruder had no hostile intentions.

"Erik, are you here?"

A second later, a women in her late thirties stepped into the room, holding the hands of two boys, the oldest of the two looking about ten or eleven. The second one looked to be a couple of years younger.

It took Tahiri's mind about half a second to process what she was seeing. The woman was his wife and the two boys had to be his kids. His kids that he had been with since the day of their birth.

"Tahiri, this is Jayne. That's Ryan - "

That's as far as he got. Tahiri's grip on her mother's saber slackened completely, and it fell to the ground. She bolted from the room before anyone could stop her. She could hear her father's voice and as footsteps as he tried to catch her, but Tahiri put on a burst of Jedi speed the second she was out of the house. She was out of sight by the time the man named Erik Veila was out in his front yard.

Let me know what you think. All comments and criticism are welcome!


	10. Appearances Can Be Deceiving

CHAPTER TEN: APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEIVING

Jaina had the mother of all headaches when she finally regained consciousness. Her head felt like it would split open from the constant pounding. When her eyes managed to adjust to the poor lighting in the room, she realized she was lying on her side on a cold stone floor. It took several tries before her body listened to her simple command and allowed her to sit up. She groaned as she hauled her body into a sitting position. Her muscles felt like they had been twisted every which way and then thrown back into her body inside out.

"How do you feel?" A voice asked.

She turned - but not too quickly - and found Lex sitting nearby.

"Considering I was blasted with half a dozen stun bolts, I feel pretty good," she remarked sarcastically, rubbing one of her painfully sore shoulders.

"You're going to need your strength if we're going to get out of here,"

"Have they come to check on us yet?"

Lex shook her head, then said, "at least not since I regained consciousness,"

Slowly, Jaina got to her feet and walked towards the door. She placed both her hands on it, searching for any sort of mechanism or release. What she did find was a tiny metal panel near the floor. She reached down into her sock and pulled out the pocketknife she kept strapped to her ankle situations just like this.

"Did you find a way out?" Lex asked, coming over to stand behind her.

"Maybe," Jaina answered, taking the knife and using it to unscrew the metal panel. "But for all I know this is the panel that controls the lighting in the room or the oxygen for that matter,"

"What do you have against Zekk?"

"You mean besides the fact that he gets on my last nerve?" Jaina said, without looking at her. She busied herself with examining the connected wires that were now exposed with metal plating gone.

"He does have that affect on people on occasion," Lex conceded.

"Now, let me ask you a question," Jaina said, turning away from her task for a moment. "How do you know Zekk?" The question had been on her mind for some time now, and now seemed to be as good a time as any to ask it.

"I met him nearly a year ago," she began, "in a Yuuzhan Vong prisoner camp. I had been there for a few weeks, when he showed up. The Yuuzhan Vong were marching us through a field. I was carrying a load of villips when I tripped and fell. The guard took out his amphistaff and was going to hit me with it, when someone started shouting at him. It was Zekk. Of course, I didn't know who he was at the time. All I knew was he had probably just saved my life. The Yuuzhan Vong beat him for his disobedience and forgot about my punishment.

"After what he did, I felt I owed him something. I helped him heal and he promised me that if I trusted him we would get out of there. He knew I was force sensitive and I think he thought that meant he could trust me. I've never met anyone who just automatically trusted me, no questions asked. 

"We did escape - just barely. We thought about freeing some of the other slaves, but the risks were too high that they would end up selling us out to the Vong. Zekk wanted to bring me the Jedi Academy but I told him I didn't want to be a Jedi. I said I didn't want to get involved with the war. I could tell he was disappointed, but he gave up on trying to convince me to come with him. When these people here captured me, I knew I had to tell someone. Zekk had told me so much about Luke Skywalker, I felt I could go to him with this. A few days ago was the first time I had seen Zekk since we parted ways back on Ord Mantell."

Jaina sat there, staring at Lex. Her work on the panel was temporarily forgotten. Her feelings were a cross between shock and absolute horror. Zekk, a Yuuzhan Vong prisoner? The thought alone seemed unreal. Surely, if it were true he would have said something. 

Lex seemed to pick up on this, for she said, "he didn't want you to find out what happened to him. He didn't want you to forgive him because you felt sorry for him," she explained to her. "He told me a lot about you and his past as a Dark Jedi," 

Jaina sat there in silence for what seemed like minutes, still having a lot of difficulty wrapping her brain around the idea. "All this time... what he must have went through and to not tell anyone,"

Zekk had been a slave to the Vong and he had kept it from her and everyone else. When she thought about it, she wondered why that surprised her. Their relationship had ended on less than favourable terms. She was unable to let go of her anger for him leaving her again and had, against her better judgement at the time, turned to Ganner, hoping to forget about Zekk completely. 

If only she had known...

Things might have turned out different for them, or then again they might have ended up the same. But from the moment Zekk had come back in he life, she had been too angry to care about any suffering he may have endured. Her line of thinking had been nothing he could have gone through could even compare to the heartache and pain she had suffered. 

And now, all she could think of was how he had to go through it alone because she had been too selfish to get passed her own feelings.

Suddenly, Zekk's past mistakes did not seem nearly as awful as her own.

The interior of the _Falcon_ was dark, save for the one light Anakin could see peeking through a slightly ajar door belonging to one of the cabin rooms. When he strained his ears enough, he could hear the odd sniffle coming from inside. When he reached the cabin door, he knocked gently before opening it, even though he knew she would have sensed his approach long before that.

She looked up at him long enough that he could her eyes were red and puffy, making it look like she had been crying for some time.

"Go away," she said, though there was no conviction in her voice that made Anakin believe she actually wanted him to leave. 

He made his way over to the edge of the bunk and sat down. He didn't try to break the silence. When Tahiri was ready she would talk to him. Trying to force her to open up to him would be worse then trying to force a bantha to move in the direction you wanted it to go.

"I'm so stupid," she sobbed. "I can't believe I came here expecting to find my father,"

"Erik Veila isn't your father?"

"He is, but he _isn't_," she tried to explain to him. "I went to see him and told him who I was,"

"What happened?" He asked gently.

"His wife and kids showed up. No wonder he gave up on looking for me. He's got two kids to replace me with,"

Anakin shifted closer to her and wrapped her in a tight embrace that she refused at first. "You were right," she sniffed. "I had this idea in my head that he would have good reasons for staying away from me all these years." She wiped her eyes and looked up at him. "Do you think he was right to forget about me because he thought he would never find me? I mean you can only look for your lost child for so long before you have to give up and move on, right?"

He didn't have an answer for that.

"I don't know, Tahiri," he replied, gently running his fingers through her hair. "I don't know,"

Neither did she.

Light years away on Borleais, a wave of emptiness ripped through Jaina Solo so suddenly and so forcibly that she was brought to her knees. She felt Lex come to her side, asking her what was wrong, but she couldn't answer her. She couldn't begin to explain the gaping hole she felt growing inside her. 

He was gone.


	11. There's No Such Thing As Accidents

CHAPTER ELEVEN: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS ACCIDENTS

The monthly supply ship arrived that morning on Trianaa. Despite the early hour of its arrival, many of the colonists were there at the supply station, waiting for their share of food, fearing that if they showed up late their share would be given to someone else. 

Anakin had volunteered the night before to help hand out supplies, and the New Republic soldiers were more than grateful for the extra hand. Anakin had not bothered to mention he had a hidden agenda.

As the refugees made their way to the front of the line, Anakin would cross off their names as they picked up their supplies. When a man with graying hair appeared at the front of the line, Anakin asked him his name and he said Erik Veila. He received his supplies and went to leave.

Without a word to the others, Anakin took off after him.

"Erik Veila!" Anakin called to him.

The older man turned around. "Yes?"

"I'm Anakin Solo... a friend of Tahiri's. Can I talk to you?"

The older man regarded him for several moments before finally nodding his head and Anakin fell into step beside him.

"How is Tahiri?"

"How do you think she is?" Anakin was surprised at his own tone. He usually showed a lot more respect when talking to adults.

"I know how upset she must be. I just wished she had given me a chance to explain. I never wanted her to find out like that,"

"She thinks you've used your new family to replace her,"

"I would never try to replace my own daughter. She doesn't understand that what I did was for her own good,"

"Letting her think you were dead was not for her own good. Instead of having her father raise her she grew up with a tribe of Sand People. Did she tell you that?"

"She did. But what I did, I did to protect her," he insisted. "Even if I found Tahiri, I was still one of the most sought after people by the Hutts. If they knew my daughter was alive they would have killed her,"

Tahiri had told him about her father's involvement with the Hutts, and Anakin was doing his best to be understanding and not judgmental, but he was finding it a very difficult thing to do. "Maybe you thought you were protecting her back then, but the Hutts must have moved on and left you alone years ago. They never once tried to track you down after what happened on Tatooine, did they? So why didn't you start looking for her again? You knew she had survived and there was no need to protect her anymore,"

Erik didn't seem to have an answer for that, instead he said, "she doesn't need me, anyway,"

"Maybe she doesn't right now. But that might change, and if it does, don't you think you owe it to her to try and make things right?"

Anakin left after that and headed back to the supply station. He hated seeing Tahiri in pain. He didn't know if what he had done would even make a difference, but at least he had done something.

If Tahiri had to stare at one more computer screen that day, she thought she was going to scream. She and Jacen had already gone through archive after archive of information, and despite their best efforts their search had turned up empty. There just wasn't anything that came close to what had been described by Jacen as half-human half-animal. The poorly given descriptions by the colonists that seemed to change with each person they talked to, had not helped their search either.

Not for the first time that afternoon, she felt her vision blurring. Maybe if she just closed her eyes for a few minutes...

A hand on her shoulder bolted her awake.

"Didn't mean to startle you," Jacen said with an apologetic grin, "but you were falling asleep on the terminal,"

"I'm sorry I keep nodding off on you," she said, rubbing her eyes in a feeble attempt to wake herself up. "I haven't been sleeping well,"

"It shows," Jacen remarked, looking her over. "Why don't we take a break?" He turned off the terminal.

"No, I'm fine," she insisted stubbornly. "Let's keep going," 

"I don't think a five minute break is going to impede our search. Unless you think we're getting close to finding something?"

"We're about as close to finding something as when we first started," she said, feeling defeated not for the first time that day.

"A break it is then," he said and got to his feet. He started walking around the room in an attempt to stretch his legs.

"I took your advice," she said in a small voice. "I went to see him,"

Jacen stopped his stretching and sat back down. "How did it go?"

She explained to him about her father's involvement with the Hutt's all those years ago and how he had another family now. She didn't know what made her tell him all this. She would have thought it would be uncomfortable talking about this with him, but she found it was easy to open up to him. In some ways, he was even easier to talk to than Anakin.

"I don't know why I should have expected anything different. Is it wrong of me to have expected him to stay alone all those years?"

"No, it's not," he answered instantly. "You have every right to feel what you're feeling. You were the one who spent all that time thinking he was dead. He's the one who should be feeling guilty, not you,"

"Thanks," she said, giving a small smile. "I needed to hear that,"

"I guess now that you've told me all that, I have a confession of my own I should make," he said, looking at her. "You know how Cilghal said the after affects of our link would fade completely within a couple of weeks? Well, they haven't exactly for me," he admitted slowly. "I mean I can't sense exactly what you're thinking anymore, but I keep having these flashes. I could be fighting with Anakin and he says something and it triggers a memory. But it's weird. It's almost like I've gotten used to having you in my head,"

"You're not the only one," Tahiri informed him. "I keep having these flashes too," she said, blushing slightly. "They're not as frequent as they used to be, which I guess is a good sign. I'm just glad I'm not the only one this is happening to,"

There was an awkward pause and Tahiri ended it by saying, "I'm sorry about you and Tenal Ka,"

"These things happen," Jacen said, turning the terminal on again.

She felt a cascade of emotions coming from him, and scolded herself for even bringing it up. Once again, she had been thinking with her big mouth instead of her head.

"I know you told me I shouldn't feel guilty," she continued, "but I can't help but feel partially responsible. If I hadn't been losing my mind none of that would have happened,"

"And if my grandfather hadn't been seduced by the dark side there would have been no Empire,"

She was not amused. "Are you mocking me?"

He couldn't resist grinning. "No, but what I'm trying to say is everything happens for a reason, and in no way are you responsible for what happened. That fight we had was a long time in coming,"

"I s'ppose," she said, not sounding at all convinced.

He leaned forwards; his entire demeanor had turned serious. "I don't regret saving your life. I would do the same thing again even knowing what would happen with me and Tenal Ka,"

When he finished speaking she suddenly became aware of how close in proximity he was to her. She realized she had never taken the time before to notice how handsome he really was.

"I'm sorry," he breathed.

"For wha-"

It took her mind a full two seconds before she was able to comprehend the fact that Jacen Solo was kissing her. It was warm and sweet and full of passion as he moved his lips over hers – and she was letting him do this! She was letting Anakin's _brother_ kiss her! That thought brought her crashing back to reality.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demanded, pushing him away from her.

It was the first time she had ever seen him speechless. He looked like he was trying to speak but couldn't move his tongue to form the words. She didn't plan on sticking around to find it if he would overcome the problem. She bolted from the room and didn't stop until she was outside.

How could she have let that happen? How could _he_ have let that happen? How would Anakin react if he found out?

She didn't get passed that thought, for a sudden shrieking from behind her caught her attention – but a moment too late. She was knocked flat onto her stomach before even getting a look at her attacker. Fortunately, her years of Jedi combat training kicked in and she rolled to the side out of instinct to avoid another attack. She had her saber out in an instant and went to strike but the horror of what she saw stopped her dead in her tracks. A human being stood in front of her. Albeit he was dirty and grimy and wearing rags, but it was still human - and that hesitation was what cost her.

The creature reared back its arm and smacked her across the face. She staggered backwards at the force of the blow, and the creature wasted no time in continuing its assault on her. It slammed her into the nearest duracrete wall, and she collapsed to the ground. Barely conscious, she felt it roughly turn her over and bend down as if to rip her open. Tahiri wasted no time in taking her lighstaber, which lay on the ground beside her, and plunged it through her attacker's midsection. She didn't even have the strength to pull it back out of him. Tahiri heard it collapse to the ground, withering in agony, seconds before her world became a big, dark blur... and then nothing.


	12. Family Feud

CHAPTER TWELVE: FAMILY FEUD

"Some bruised ribs…possibly a concussion. I'd say you were pretty lucky to walk away with only these injuries," said the doctor, Trentholm, upon finishing his examination of Tahiri.

Anakin stood nearby, arms folded over his chest, his features showing nothing but concern.

Tahiri had been found by two of the villagers who had happened to be walking by after the attack. They had gone screaming to the nearest New Republic soldier about Tahiri and some slain monster lying beside her.

They had carried her unconscious form back to the small medical clinic, where Anakin and the others had been forced to wait outside while Trentholm had bandaged her up. The doctor had finally let them in when Tahiri regained consciousness about an hour after being brought in. 

Tenal Ka, who was standing to the left of Anakin, was frowning. "How could this have happened? It is not even near dark yet,"

"Maybe this one wanted to get head start on the free human buffet we're having here," Tahiri remarked. A sharp pain in her side where her ribs were wrapped caused her to wince.

"That's not funny," Anakin said, frowning as well. "This means that these monsters are getting more aggressive and pretty soon no one will be safe here,"

"What about the thing I killed?"

"They've brought it down to the morgue," Trentholm told her. "No one's had a chance to examine it yet,"

"They don't need to examine it," she said in a small, yet determined voice. "I already know what it is,"

"B_a'kl skul_," Tenal Ka confirmed, nodding her head. When everyone except Tahiri gave her a puzzled look, she said to the others, "when I sent the tissue samples we had back to Courscant, I made an extra copy and sent them to Cilghal. I just received word back from her an hour ago. I was going to wait until we were all together before saying anything, but I suppose now is as good a time as any,"

Trentholm took that moment to leave, saying he would be back shortly with the results of Tahiri's head scans. He had wanted to run a few tests to make sure there was no lasting injuries to the brain where she had taken the blow to the head.

"I knew exactly what it was when I got close enough to it," Tahiri said to the others when Trentholm had left. "It was just like those people I saw in the cages on Belkdan. It sounds impossible but I think the one that attacked me was more savage – even more primitive,"

"That explains why we couldn't find anything in the archives," said Jacen.

Tahiri noticed he was avoiding looking at her. Normally it would bother her, but after what had happened she was in no hurry for Jacen to look at her again.

"What were you doing patrolling alone?" Anakin questioned her.

She didn't like his tone. He sounded like he was talking to a child. "I wasn't," she informed him. "Jacen and I were taking a break from searching the databanks,"

Anakin rounded on Jacen. "And you just let her go off alone?"

"Come off it, Anakin," Jacen snapped at him. "It was the middle of the afternoon, how was I supposed to know what was going to happen?"

"It doesn't hurt to be cautious,"

"You mean walking with my lightsaber out in my hand like you, ready to slice anything that moves,"

"It may surprise you, Jace, but there are Jedi out there who are willing to kill if they have to,"

"That's your solution to everything, isn't it? Kill first, ask questions later," Jacen said, stepping dangerous close towards Anakin. "Well, let me tell you something, little brother, the ability to kill doesn't make you a hero,"

Anakin was fuming. "While you were busy sitting on your morals, Tahiri almost _was_ killed,"

The sound of the door opening drew them away from their argument. They were stunned to see Tahiri gripping the door handle and holding open the door.

"Where are you going?" The two brothers asked simultaneously.

"Away from the two of you," she said sharply. "I don't know what's gotten into you two nerfs, but you've been on each other's case since before we left Courscant. So you two can either grow up or get out, because I'm sick of it,"

She didn't look to be kidding either. Her voice was dead serious and her gaze was locked on the two Jedi as if daring them to test her.

They were both still in shock from her outburst, and ended up heeding her request.

Trentholm appeared back in the room then. "Tahiri, you have a visitor,"

Erik Veila entered the room and his face paled upon seeing the cuts and bruises lining the side of Tahiri's face 

_I'll ask him to leave if you want_, Anakin's voice echoed in her head.

As much as she wanted him gone, she answered back, _no it's all right_.

"I'll be outside if you need me," Anakin said in a low enough voice so only she would hear him.

The others took the hint and filed out of the room behind Anakin, closing the door behind them.

"He's a good guy, that Anakin Solo," her father began.

"I know that," Tahiri said, trying hard not to look at him.

"Tahiri I know you're still angry about what you saw, and I know you probably don't want to see me right now, but I had to come after hearing about the attack on you,"

"As you can see I'm fine, so you can go now. You've fulfilled your fatherly duties," she said, her voice full of bitterness.

"Tahiri, I don't know what I can say to make you understand how sorry I am,"

"There's nothing you can say. You left me and started up another family," 

"Tahiri -"

"I hate you. You're the reason she's dead. If you hadn't been so selfish I would still have a mother, and I'll never forgive you for that,"

She was waiting for him to leave. She didn't want to have to ever look at him again.

Whether it was her own doing or his own free will that finally made him leave, she didn't care. What mattered was that he was out of her life for good, and she could go back to believing her father was dead.

Jaina kept herself focused on the task in front of her.  The chance of escape kept her mind from settling into the depressing state it had lapsed into upon feeling Zekk's death.

It had been so sudden.  She had felt no pain from him.  She had felt nothing except a strong sense of determination from him – and then nothing. 

She hadn't spoken much since it had happened.  She knew Lex was confused since she had not been very forthcoming with the details, but she seemed to have somewhat of an understanding of what Jaina had experienced.  After the first hour, Lex had given up on trying to make conversation, since all she was getting from Jaina were half responses or slight nods of the head.

So Jaina worked on in silence.  

Every so often Lex would hover over her shoulder for a bit to check her progress and then go back to her spot on the other side of the room, sitting with her back against the wall.  For the most part though, Jaina was alone in her task.  Her chrono was broken, so she did not have a sense of how much time had gone by, but knew she had been working on the door controls (or at least what she thought was the door controls) for at least a good hour or more.

Under different circumstances, she might have already found the door mechanism release.  At the moment though, she wasn't firing on all thrusters.  She felt she wasn't in as much of a hurry to escape as she ought to be.  Zekk was gone and they had heard nothing from Ganner since their short communication before she and Lex had been ambushed.

Jaina heard a small clanking sound, and for a split second thought she had finally cracked the door code, until she realized she hadn't done anything.  The noise was coming from the outside.  Someone was coming in.

Hurriedly, Jaina fumbled to put the panel back into place to cover up her tinkering, before moving back away from the door.

Her eyes had grown accustomed to the semi-darkness state of their cell that Jaina had to shield her eyes from the bright light coming from the outside corridor.  Before she could make any attempt at an escape, a body was shoved into the cell and the door was locked shut again.

"Ganner," Jaina breathed, relief washing over her as she helped him to his feet.  He looked a real mess.

"What happened?"  Lex asked him.

"We must have set off some silent alarm," he began in a shallow voice.  "The base was crawling with soldiers the minute after we lost communications with you.  They've been interrogating me since my capture,"

"What about Zekk?" Jaina forced herself to ask.  She was unable to keep her voice from quivering.

She watched his facial expression carefully, and without Ganner even saying a word, she had her answer.  She let go of his arm.

"I'm sorry," he said to her.

"What happened?"  She needed to know how he had died.

Ganner was watching her, clearly trying to decide if she could handle it.  She must have passed his test because he said, "there were too many of them.  Zekk took on a half a dozen at once.  He got hit in the shoulder with a blaster, and in that split second when his defenses were weakened he took a shot to the chest at point blank range.  He was dead before he hit the ground,"

Is that why she had felt no pain from him, because he had been killed instantly?  A part of her was thinking that it didn't make any sense.  She still should have felt something – but maybe that was her own wishful thinking.  Then why did she want to scream at Ganner, call him a liar – as if that would have made any difference.  Zekk was dead and nothing she could say or do would change it.

She noticed then that Lex and Ganner were watching her closely.  Were they waiting for her to drop to the ground, sobbing like a baby?  

She refused to break down.  Grieving would come later, when she was alone and not stuck in some holding cell.  So she said the thing Ganner and Lex were least expecting, "I've almost got the wires figured out that open the door.  We should be out of here soon,"


	13. Deciding Vote

CHAPTER THIRTEEN:  DECIDING VOTE

        Zekk had learned more than he had ever wanted to know about the hidden facility on Borleias.  It had been constructed nearly six months ago, and had already gone through hundreds of test subjects.  Many of whom were roaming around the facility at that very moment.  Besides Lex, they had not managed to capture any force wielders - until now.

From what Zekk had been able to gather from hacking into the base's computer network and his own pieced together hypothesis was that the people running the facility had not put much effort into her recapture, hoping that she would lead more Jedi back there and give them a whole line of force sensitive subjects to use.  They had made their attempts seem genuine enough, but had never actually had the intention of capturing her again.  

In the little time he had to search through the databanks, not wanting to spend any lengthy amount of time that might draw unwanted attention, he had seen brief sketches of plans outlining a delivery of these genetically enhanced humans to the Yuuzhan Vong.  Everything about this facility would be used to aid the Yuuzhan Vong in their war against the galaxy.  He should have realized that from the moment Lex had come to Courscant, telling them about humans being implanted with symbiotes.

He could tell as he skirted through the base which soldiers had been implanted and those that were still on the waiting list.  Those that had symibotes inside them, seldom showed any emotions and were rarely seen doing anything that was not military duty.  He had managed to watch one of the training sessions and it still made him shudder when he thought about it.  The New Republic already had enough to deal with without worrying about a group of elite soldiers that could not be brought down by ordinary blaster fire.  And if the hosts were force sensitive – Zekk ended that thought right there.  He did not want to even think about how that would greatly complicate matters.

        He hadn't seen his friends since their capture the day before.  He was trying to keep a low profile as he snooped for more information about where they were being held.  He was keeping track of the guards watching their cell, making mental notes of the times when there was a shift change and when meals were brought to the prisoners.  He needed to be patient.  There might not be such a thing as a perfect escape window but he would only get when chance at it, and he did not intend to waste it.  His own only concern was that they would think something had happened if he didn't act soon and take matters into their own hands.

        He was on his way back from scouting out one of the labs, when an alarm started wailing throughout the complex.  The first person he came across, he asked what was going on.

        "The prisoners on level four have escaped.  But the base has been put under lockdown.  It's only a matter of time before their caught,"

        Zekk took off at a run, ignoring the soldier that was shouting after him.  

        He was furious.  How could Jaina be so stupid?  It would be just like her to tire of sitting around and plot an escape.  He was working as fast as he could on getting them out of there and she had to go and mess it all up.  Once they found her and the others, the security would be much tighter and no doubt the three Jedi would be separated to prevent a reoccurrence of that happening.

        He knew where she would go.  It was the only logical choice really.  If he reached her in time, maybe he could stop her from getting herself killed – and then he would kill her himself.

                "We're out of options.  Either we move the settlement - which could take weeks without additional assistance from the New Republic, or we take out these monsters that are terrorizing the village," Baxter was saying to the Jedi who were assembled in what had been converted into a small meeting room.  They were all sitting around a large, rectangular-shaped table made of metal.

        "You can't just wipe them out," Jacen protested.  "It's not their fault what's been done to them,"

        "Jacen is right.  We would be no better than the Yuuzhan Vong were we to destroy them," Tenal Ka added her opinion.

        Anakin sat up straight.  "So we just let everyone here die?"

        Tenal Ka turned to him.  "That is not what we are saying, Anakin.  We must simply find an alternative solution,"

        "It's not that simple," said Baxter.  "My commanding officer has given us orders to find wherever these creatures are hiding and destroy them if we can't come up with a better solution.  But he's willing to hold off for twenty-four hours if you can convince him that there's a better way,"

        Jacen knew they all had a different opinion on the subject, and there was only one way they could come to a decision, whether they all agreed or not.

        "I think the only way we can come to a decision is to take a vote," Jacen said to them.  "I vote that we take the twenty four hours.  If that turns out to be the winning side, your men don't attack, giving us a chance to come up with a better solution.  For Anakin's approach, if his side wins, we attack now,"

        Anakin looked at him doubtfully.  "You would fight?"

        Jacen shrugged.  "A fair vote is a fair vote,"

        Anakin nodded.  "Fine.  I say we attack now before any more casualties,"

        It was no surprise when Baxter took Anakin's side.

        Tenal Ka spoke next.  "I usually prefer action to doing nothing, but I do not think it is right we destroy these people until all other options have been looked at,"

        Jacen was stunned that she had taken his side, but it didn't really matter.  The last person to vote would put Anakin's side with the majority.

        "Tahiri, it is your turn," Tenal Ka spoke to her.

        She looked from Jacen to Anakin and then straight ahead so she wouldn't have to look at either one of them when she gave them her decision.  Why did she have to be the deciding vote?  Either way it seemed that one of them would be upset with her when it was over.

        "I want these people to be safe as much as the rest of you do," she began.  "I know firsthand how dangerous they can be, but I can't kill one race in order to save another.  It's not up to us to decide who gets to live and who gets to die,"

        Jacen tried and failed to suppress a triumphant grin from showing on his features.  It faltered somewhat though, when he looked at his brother.

        "I'll tell the general we wait the twenty-four hours," Baxter said, and then got up and left.

        Jacen braced himself for his brother's response.  It was nothing like he was expecting, however.

        "Congratulations, Jace," Anakin said to him, not bothering to hide the resentment in his voice.  "You won, just like always," 

        He stood up from the table and walked out of the room.

        Suddenly, Jacen wished he hadn't looked so smug when the vote went in his favour.  He hadn't thought Anakin would take it so personally.

        He watched Tahiri push back from the table and pick up her jacket.

        "Tahiri, let him go.  He'll be back once he's had a chance to cool off,"

        She ignored him and went after Anakin anyway.

        He had gotten pretty far in that short amount of time that she had to jog to catch up to him.

        "Anakin, where are you going?"

        "I just need to get some air," he said without turning around.

        She stopped chasing him.  "You're being selfish, you know that?"

        "For what?"  He said, coming to halt and facing her.  "For thinking you would side with me instead of my brother?"

        She blinked, and wondered briefly if her guilt showed in her expression.  _I might as well wear a sign on my forehead that says I kissed your brother_.  "Is that what this is about?  Because I took Jacen's side?"

        "Yes... No," he gave a frustrated sigh.  "Look, Tahiri, more innocent people will die if we do what Jacen says, and sit around thinking up alternatives when even he knows there aren't any,"

        "People are going to die anyways, Anakin.  _Innocent _people.  These 'monsters' as everyone keeps refering to them as, were once human beings, but the Yuuzhan Vong took that humanity away from them.  That doesn't give us the right to kill them.  I won't be reponsible for the death of thirty odd people when there might have been a way around it.  I don't want that on my conscience,"

        "And you think I do?  I'm just trying to do the right thing.  They have to be stopped,"

        "So that's your carefully thought out solution: kill them off?  Is that what you were planning to do with me?"

        Anakin shifted uncomfortably.  "You can't ask me that,"

        She didn't back down.  "I just did,"

        "You know I couldn't," he said in a low voice.

        "But it's all right to murder these people because you don't know any of them, is that what you're saying?"

        "Tahiri - "

        He cut himself off.  She was right and there was nothing he could say that would make her believe otherwise.

        "I need to go for a walk.  I'll see you back here later,"

        She watched him go, wondering if she had been too harsh with him, but she banished the thought as soon as it entered her mind.  Just because she felt guilty about her mishap with Jacen didn't mean she had to agree with Anakin.

        "Did you find him?"  Jacen asked, when she re-entered the building.

        "Yeah, but it didn't do much good," she admitted.  "He was - " She shook her head.

        "A real jerk?"  Jacen supplied.

        "No," she said, fighting back a smile despite how angry she still was with Jacen.

        "You know once my brother makes up his mind, Hoth will melt before he changes it,"

        "I know that," she looked around then, noticing for the first time since coming back that Tenal Ka wasn't there.  "Where's Tenal Ka?"

        "She went down to the lab to start looking for a way around our current situation.  We should probably go down and join her.  We don't have a lot of time left,"

        "It can't happen again, Jacen," she said suddenly.

        He didn't bother pretending that he didn't what she was talking about.  "I know that,"

        "Do you?  Because you're not the one who has to face Anakin and feel guilty about what you did,"

        "You're not the only one feels guilty," Jacen informed her.  "He's my _brother_.  How do you think it makes me feel to know I betrayed him?"

        "Then why did you do it?"

        "I don't know.  I wasn't thinking.  If I had, I wouldn't have done it.  I'm sorry.  It won't happen again,"

        The lack of distance between them was starting to unnerve her, but she found herself unable to move away from him.  "It _can't_ happen again," she said, quietly.

        "I know," he said, his face moving closer to hers.

        Her face was slowly inching closer to his.  She felt the briefest sensation when he touched his lips against hers – 

        The lights in the room went out, engulfing them into darkness.  The only light was the bits of sunlight that still shone through the windows.

        "What's going on?"  Tahiri said, fighting to keep from panic showing up in her voice.

        "I don't know," Jacen said, _but I have a bad feeling about this_, he added silently, walking to the door and opening it.  "Power's out all over," he informed her.

        "Do they have a lot of power outages around here?"

        Jacen was frowning.  "Come on, we'll find Baxter and figure out what's going on,"

        Jacen spun around to the sound of glass breaking, followed by a long series of screams.  The altered humans of Trianaa were climbing in through the window.  Tahiri had her lightsaber out, and Jacen had his own out ready to help her fight, when the other window in the room came smashing to the ground, sending some of the shards flying into Jacen's backside.

        They were trapped.  There would be no way they could make it out into the corridor without fighting their way out.  Knowing there was no other way around it, Jacen cut into the first burly looking human that attacked him.


	14. Bait

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:  BAIT

        Jaina ran.  Even when a sharp pain started burning in her side she did not slow.  It dawned on her then that she probably should have thought out her escape plan more carefully before executing it, but she knew the reality of what would happen if she and the others waited too long.  The only reason she, Ganner and Lex had not been killed already was because they were planning on implanting each one of them with a symbiote just like the ones she and Lex had seen in the lab.

        After causing a distraction when the guards had brought their daily meal to their cell, the three Jedi had split up, knowing it would be easier to escape if the soldiers had to make several small groups to find them.  The plan was to meet up in the hanger bay, where they would commandeer a ship and escape.

Jaina was currently running along a large access shaft that Lex had told her would lead straight into the hanger bay.  She had no choice but to trust Lex's memory of the place, knowing it would be a lot faster then trying to find her own route.  If she reached the hanger first, she could sneak aboard a ship and set up a line of defense against any troops that came into the hanger.

        She skidded to a halt when the access shaft came to a sudden end.  She didn't think she had taken any wrong turns, but the only way to find out if this was where she wanted to be was if she went outside.  As quietly as she could, she lifted the access panel off and jumped down.

        Lex's memory had proved to be correct.  There were ships of all shapes and sizes covering the bay.  The next hurdle would be to get aboard one.

        She immediately crouched behind a stack of containers, carefully peering out at the situation in front of her.  Without any weapons it would prove difficult to get near enough to one without getting shot by the now dozens of guards patrolling the area thanks to the warning klaxon that continuously blarred.  It would have been impossible to keep their escape from going unnoticed for long, but since no one had spotted her yet she still had the element of surprise.

        She may not have had any visible weapons, but she did have the force, and that was as good as any lightsaber.  She came out of hiding when a pair of arms seized her from behind.  A hand clamped shut over her mouth, preventing her from crying out as she was dragged back behind the pile of containers.

        Jacen swung his blade wildly to prevent himself from decapitating the person in front of him.  Instead, he managed to sever only a hand, but where a normal human would stop in pain, it only served to make this creature madder.

        Out of the ten that had entered the room, three were dead and two were mortally wounded.  But the changed odds did not make the current situation any easier for him or Tahiri.

        They were unlike anything Jacen had fought before, and with their frenzied behaviour and no clear thought pattern it was hard to predict or anticipate any sort of attack.  The majority of his movements were counter attacks or reactions.  

His first attempt to get inside the creatures mind had forced him to shut down his force senses completely to avoid risking an overload of emotions to his brain.  Inside its mind were nothing but raw emotions and primitive behaviour.  The pain and confusion he felt coming from it had nearly made him pass out - and he would not make the same mistake again.

        Together, he and Tahiri gave the remainder of the creatures one, giant force shove, sending them crashing into the nearest wall, stunning them momentarily.

        Not wanting to stick around to see how long the stunned state would last, Jacen and Tahiri sprinted from the room and down the corridor.

        They were running so hard, they nearly ran headfirst into another of the creatures.  Jacen couldn't react with his saber fast enough, but when the altered human moved to attack the ceiling collapsed overtop of it.  All that could be seen was a dark blur and a violet energy blade taking out the monster before it could do them any harm.

        "Anakin!"  Jacen said, breathlessly.

        "Are you all right?"  He asked them both.

        "Fine, but we need to evacuate everyone,"

        "No argument from me," Anakin said, and the three of them began running but at a much more cautious speed this time.

        "How did you know?"  Tahiri asked from beside him.

        "Jedi's intuition," he said, flashing her a grin.

        They saw Tenal Ka approaching them, flanked by two soldiers.  "All non-essential personnel have been evacuated," she told them.  "The rest are fighting off the changed humans to keep them from escaping,"

        "What's causing this?"  Anakin asked her.

        "I do not know.  But if they are not stopped there will not be anyone left to find out,"

        Anakin nodded thoughtfully.  "Take Jacen and protect the villagers outside," he said to her.  "Find everyone who's left in here and get them out,"

        "What about you?" Jacen asked, having the feeling that his brother was about to do something both extremely brave and extremely stupid.

        "I'm going to stop them,"

        "I'm coming with you," Tahiri said.

        Anakin looked at her.  She was still showing signs of her previous injuries, but he had to trust her to decide for herself that she was all right.

        He nodded without protest and they left Jacen and the others.

        They reached the nearest turbo lift, but with the power out it would be useless.  Anakin sliced a hole in the bottom of the lift and they jumped down several meters to the bottom level.  Using his saber as a source of light, he led the way into the large room that had been converted into a lab since their arrival.

        "What are we doing here?"  Tahiri asked him.

        "I think I've figured out why the attacks are happening when the sun is still out," he said, reaching into the freezer and removing several blood samples.  "They've got a taste for human blood now," he began.  "And since Baxter implemented the sundown curfew, they haven't had much to feed off of because of everyone's safe indoors.  But what if they've adapted to these changes?  What if they've altered their hunting patterns in order to survive.  Think about it, there's not much wildlife on this planet, so it's either adapt or die,"

        "Anakin, that's - "

        She stopped herself from finishing that sentence when she considered the possibility that he might be right.  When she thought about it, the idea did not seem so farfetched.  The truth was they understood so little about these creatures that anything was possible.  She pointed to the vials in his hand.  "What do you need those for?"

        "What if these creatures are more intelligent then we gave them credit for?  Maybe the other reason the attacks have become so frequent recently is because they know we have one of their kind,"

        "And you think they might try and get it back even if it's dead?"

        "I don't know, but I'm hoping they will or this will all be for nothing," he said to her.  "If their sense of smell is as good as I think it is, we could use these to lead them to wherever we want them to go," he said, holding up the small vials.

        "Bait,"

        "Exactly," he said.  "But you might not like the rest of the plan, that's why I was going to do it on my own.  I was going to set charges in the lab here and once they're inside set them off."  He pointed to the far side of the room where a large slab of metal had what was the size of a human being on top, covered with a long white sheet.  "With their dead friend over there with the sheet draped over him, it shouldn't be too hard to convince them that this is where they want to be.  It's either that or they destroy the village," he said, watching her expression carefully.  "We don't have time to come up with another solution,"

        "So what are we waiting for?"

        He hesitated.  "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

        "No," she admitted, "but we have to do what we have to do, right?  It wouldn't be right to stand by and do nothing,"

        "I'm glad you're with me on this."  He handed her two thermal detonators.  "Now, set one of these by the doorway – " 

        "Uh-uh, no way.  I'm not letting you be the bait,"

        "Tahiri, we're _both_ the bait.  I'll be leading them straight to you.  Set the detonators and get yourself out before I lead them straight to you,"

        When she finally agreed, Anakin left and retraced his earlier steps through the deserted hallway.

        He climbed back up the turbo lift shaft.  Unmistakably, the shouts and screams of the altered humans could be heard not far from his current position.  He made a trail with half of one of the blood vials leading to the lift.  He had barely made it back down the shaft when he heard them closing in behind him.  He continued to leave a trail of blood as he headed back towards the lab.

        "Tahiri, how's it coming?"  He said into his comlink.

        "They're set,"

        "Get out now," 

        "I'm coming to find you," 

        He nearly swore.  He should have known she wouldn't leave him.

        He continued to drop blood, and it wasn't long before the creatures were catching up to him.  When he turned back at one point he could see one of their dirty faces.

        There was still no sign of Tahiri.  "Tahiri, where are you?" he shouted into the comlink.

        She didn't respond back but he could hear an ear-splitting scream in the background that made him run faster than he thought was possible.

        He made it to the lab ahead of the pack in time to see Tahiri engaged with one of the creatures.  He went to help her when he was knocked down from behind.  He felt nails digging through the skin on his back, and rolled over, trying to shake the creature off of him.  There was a loud yelp and he managed to break free.

        Staggering to his feet, he realized only two of the things had followed him in.  Had they sensed it was a trap?  It seemed impossible, but there was no time to dwell on that now.  They needed to get out of there before they got buried alive.

        He saw Tahiri falter as the thing smacked itself against her injured ribs.  She was on the ground, her lightsaber out of her reach as the creature reared back its fist to knock her out.  Then she was blocked from his sight when the creatures double-teamed him.  Anakin managed to take one out with his saber before the other one jumped him and knocked him hard on his back.  He was gasping for air when he felt it lift him up and smash his head against a nearby table.  

        He heard the familiar hum of his lightsaber and felt his body being dragged along the ground just as the first detonator went off.  


	15. A Change Of Plans

CHAPTER FIFTEEN:  A CHANGE OF PLANS

       Jacen removed a piece of debris and tossed it aside.  He picked up another large piece of duracrete and did the same.  He had been going through this repetitive mode of picking up rubble and tossing it aside for what seemed like hours now - and with nothing to show for it.

        He knew his brother and Tahiri weren't dead, of that he was certain.  He would have felt it if they were.  But the fact that they had been most likely buried alive in the explosion and would be running out of air soon, did little to help squash the panic he was feeling inside.  It didn't help that he could barely sense either one of them through the force.

        He heaved a sigh and went to pick up another boulder, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.  He found himself face to face with Tenal Ka who was as equally sweaty and grimy as he was.  She handed him a canteen of water and he took a drink from it gratefully.

        She observed him closely.  "If you want to take a break - "

        "I'm fine," he said and handed her back the canteen more roughly then he intended to.

        Without looking at her again, he went back to digging.  He didn't need her to see how close to exhaustion he really was.  And what kept driving him on had nothing to do with adrenaline.  It was guilt.  Guilt for his smug attitude towards his brother.  Guilt for kissing Tahiri and enjoying it.  And guilt for about a dozen other things he couldn't think of off the top of his head.

        "Jacen, it is not your fault,"

        "It doesn't matter whose fault it is.  All that matters is getting them out of there,"

        This time Tenal Ka's hand on his shoulder was not reassuring, but tight and strong as if she were forcing him to look at her.  "This is about more then your brother and Tahiri being trapped, is it not?"

        She was staring at him, unblinking, that he wondered if she could read his thoughts.  There was a time when he wouldn't have minded that gaze, but she was the last person he wanted to share his feelings with right now.  "Tenal Ka, please stay out of my thoughts," he said to her.  "Unless you're going to help me dig," he said picking up heavy boulder and throwing it aside, "you should go help Baxter's men tend to the wounded,"

        He hadn't said it to be rude, but he needed to focus on what he was doing.  She was a distraction that Anakin and Tahiri could not afford right now.

        She had opened her mouth, ready to speak, but was cut off by Baxter who was running towards them.

        He greeted Tenal Ka as princess, much to her annoyance.  Since he had found out she was heir of Hapes, he had begun calling her that and so had the rest of his soldiers.

        "What is it, Captain?"  Jacen asked him.

        "A couple of my men found something on the other side of the debris that you might want to take a look at,"

        He and Tenal Ka followed Baxter around the rubble that had once housed the military stationed on Trianna to where several soldiers were gathered around something.  They parted to let Baxter through with the two Jedi.  Jacen didn't realized immediately what he was seeing, but Tenal Ka did.

        She was hunched on the ground, examining the tracks that had been made.  "It looks as if at least one person has been dragged through here," she said out loud.

        The trail started from somewhere beneath the debris, and the flattened trail of grass continued to lead into the forest.

        "Then they may have gotten out before the explosion," Jacen reasoned.  He wasn't sure if he should be relieved or not considering who had probably dragged them out.

        Tenal Ka got to her feet and looked at him.  "There is only one way to find out,"

                It was the splitting pain in Anakin's head that finally drove him back to consciousness.  When he opened his eyes, however, the pain seemed dismal to what was going on in front of him.  Somehow, he was no longer in the exploding lab in the village.  Now he was in a dark forest in the dead of night, with a single roaring fire glowing in front of him.  The warmth it was giving off did little to comfort him when he thought of why he was still alive.

        His hands and feet were bound together by some thick root, that didn't budge an inch when he tried to break free of it.  He heard a low groan to his left and saw Tahiri coming around.

        "Anakin?"  She blinked groggily at him.  "Where are we?"

        "I think were in their nest," he answered her.

        "I guess it beats an exploding building,"

        "Not if that fire is what I think it's for," he said to her.

        Tahiri looked at the flames and shivered.

        Seeing that their captives were awake now, the creatures approached them slowly, keeping eye contact with the Jedi the whole time.  They grabbed the two of them and dragged them closer to the fire.  When they tried resisting, the filthiest of the altered humans – and that was saying something – removed a cylinder shaped object from beneath its rags.  It fumbled for the switch on the side before a long violet beam shot out the end of it, nearly decapitating it's own foot.

         Anakin recognized it instantly as his lightsaber.  He wasn't sure if the altered human would know how to use it, but considering the threatening way he was aiming it at Tahiri and himself, he thought it best they cooperate for the moment.

        They gave up on resisting and allowed themselves to be shoved within several feet from the fire.

        "Anakin, now would be a good time for one of your plans," Tahiri said in a low voice.

        He made no reply.  He was busy watching the altered humans take a turn at handling his saber.  One of them managed to graze the leg of another, and even though the wound looked superficial, the human cried out and attacked the one who had injured him.  The rest of their captors made a circle around them and started yelling, as if they were encouraging the whole thing.  Anakin decided to use their distraction to his advantage.

  "Tahiri, can you reach the pocket on my leg?"  Anakin said, careful not to move his lips too much.

        Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her reach down and with her bound hands manage to open his pocket and reach in.  She shifted enough so that her back was against his and begun cutting through the binds on his wrists with the mini vibroblade. 

        Several meters away, the creatures continued with their fighting and chanting, oblivious to the attempt at escape being made by their captives.

        Jaina felt her knees trembling uncontrollably as she stared at the person directly in front of her.  "Zekk," she uttered in hushed voice.  It was totally impossible, yet he was standing right there.  She wanted to touch him, make sure he was real, but what prevented her from doing so was that nagging doubt in the back of her mind that perhaps she was just seeing what she wanted to see.  It didn't help that she felt nothing when she reached out to him.

        "Of course it's me," he said, sounding rather miffed.

        "I don't understand," she said, shaking her head.

        "Obviously not, otherwise you would have waited instead of coming up with this clever escape plan of yours.  Gods, Jaina, what were you thinking?"

        "You're dead," she stated in an unwavering voice.

        "What?"  He was beyond confused.  "What are you talking about?"

        "I can't feel you,"

        "Oh, that," he said.  He closed his eyes and then opened them again.  "Better?"

        Jaina was shaking her head.  "How did you – what's going on here?"

        "Maybe we should continue this conversation somewhere a bit more private." He indicated to the guards nearby.  "Follow me,"

        Ducking low he led her passed the storage containers to a door on the opposite wall.  He took out what looked like an ID card from his pocket and swiped it along the key panel.  The door gave a low hiss and opened. It was a storage room.  Piled around were crates of every size that did not appear to be stacked in any specific order.  Once they were safely inside, Zekk tore off the control panel beside the door and ripped apart several of the wires inside.

        "That should keep someone out for awhile," he said to her.  "We can use the containers in here to climb up to the catwalk to get out of here."  Still seeing the astonished look on her face, he said, "sorry, I guess I should have told you I can cut myself off from the force completely, and can appear that way even with someone force sensitive nearby.  I would have thought Ganner would have said something.  He knew what I was doing,"

        This was becoming too much for Jaina.  She found herself looking for the nearest storage crate and sitting down on it.  "He said you were dead,"

        "He did what?"

        She could feel his fury hit her like a tidal wave.

        "I _felt_ you die – or at least I thought I did.  One minute I could feel you through the force and the next there was nothing,"

        Zekk had to take a calming breath, but he seemed to be handling the news better than Jaina.  She looked like he felt: betrayed.

        "Well, I'm not dead," he was happy to inform her.

        "Thanks for the update because I hadn't figured that out for myself,"

        She was trying to sound sarcastic, but Zekk knew better.  She was trying to hide the hurt she was feeling.

        "They've already captured Lex and Ganner," he said suddenly.  "I was listening in on their comm frequency before I found you,"

        She nodded her head in a business-like way, knowing they had more important matters to focus on.  "So what do we do now?  They'll still be looking for me,"

        Zekk didn't answer her, but started pulling off the tops of crates one by one until he found what he was looking for.  He tossed her some clothing and a cap.  "Put these on.  They shouldn't recognize you dressed like that," 

        "What if they're not my size?"

        "Funny, Jaina. Just put them on,"

"Do you mind?" She said, when he continued to stare in her direction.

        "Right, sorry," he said, his face flushing slightly as he turned around so she could change.

        She dressed silently, forcing Zekk to listen to the changing of her clothes until she said, "how do you do that? Make yourself as if you don't exist through the force,"

        "It's something I've worked at for about a year now," he answered, "since my last encounter with the dark side.  I thought if I could cut myself off completely I wouldn't be tempted.  This is the longest I've ever kept it up, though.  I needed to be sure there would be no way for my presence to be detected while I worked out a plan to break you out,"

        "Zekk, to be able to do that, that's – that's amazing.  You could be in a room full of Jedi and they would never know it," she said in awe.

        "It requires an awful lot of concentration, and the more people there are around the harder it is to maintain,"

        For the first time she could hear the exhaustion in his voice when he spoke.  "I'm done.  You can turn around,"

        It was like looking at a completely different person.  She was now donning the military fatigues worn by the soldiers around the facility, with her long hair was pulled up underneath the cap he had given her.

        "What's next?" She asked him.

        "I'm going to break Ganner and Lex out, while you head down to that laboratory you found earlier.  We're going to free as many of those people as we can.  You might need this," he said, removing a long, metallic object from his pocket.  

        She took her lightsaber from him, grateful that he had managed to get it back.  

        The two of them made a sort of stairway with the crates until Jaina was able to reach up and remove one of the ceiling panels.  She pulled herself up threw the whole and then Zekk did the same.

        He had obviously explored this place more than her, so she let him lead, all the while hoping the relief she felt at seeing him alive was not as evident on her face as it was in her heart.


	16. Firefight

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:  FIREFIGHT

        Jaina followed Zekk's instructions on how to reach the lab through the crawlspace in the ceiling.  Looking down through the small holes in the ceiling grates she knew she had reached her destination.  Before jumping down, she quickly reached out with her senses, trying to detect any hostiles in the room.  There were several, but spaced out enough that she should have ample time to deal with each one of them.

        Zekk hadn't said for her to wait for his return with Ganner and Lex, so as quietly as possible she removed one of the ceiling panels and jumped down.  Almost instantly she felt her danger senses flash – and just in time too.

        Her initial reaction brought her blade up high enough to slice through the blaster rifle being aimed at her head.  Then she gave her attacker a hard nudge with the force that sent him flying backwards against the wall, where he slumped to the floor unconscious.    The noise alerted the other guards in the room, and by the time Jaina had dealt with them all, seven lay unconscious, and one dead.

        There were nine test subjects currently occupying the lab, all had their wrists and ankles strapped to their beds.  There were monitors above each one of their heads, indicating their life signs.  Half of them were barely conscious, while the other half were fully awake and registered Jaina's presence by struggling in their bonds and crying out for her help.  Jaina tried to calm them, not knowing how far their voices would carry, but for all her work she might as well just have kept her mouth shut for they were not listening to her.  Not that she could blame them.  They were being held against their will in a strange place where experiments were being performed on them to suit some sadistic need of the Yuuzhan Vong.  Zekk had told her all he had been able to find out about the invading aliens involvement with the project, which was not a whole lot, but if the Vong were involved it was definitely bad.

        With her lightsaber, she carefully began freeing the ones that were fully awake, telling them to stay where they were until she had everyone freed.  She was on releasing her third human when she heard the doors to the outside hallway open.  

        "Jaina?"  She heard Zekk call her name.

        "Over here," she told him.

        She was moving on to the next test subject just as Zekk came into her line of sight followed by Ganner.

        "Where's Lex?"

"She's sneaking into the hanger bay as we speak to grab a ship," he replied, taking out his own lightsaber and helping Jaina free those that were still held in place by their bonds.  "I told her if were not there in twenty minutes to leave without us,"

She noticed how Ganner purposely came over to where she was helping one of the human females to her feet.

"Take her," she said to him before moving on to the next one.

"Jaina,"

She avoided looking at him when she spoke.  "Let me do what I have to do so we can get out of here,"

"Jaina, please,"

She could hear the desperation in his voice, but it did nothing to quell her anger.  "I have nothing to say to you,"

She was grateful when he gave up after that, allowing her and Zekk to free the last of the humans without interruption.  The ones that could walk ventured out into the hallway without aid, while Jaina and Zekk took up the rear to help the others out.

Zekk could sense Jaina's hesitation and immediately understood why.  "There isn't any time, Jaina.  I know you want to help the others that are trapped here, but there's only three of us.  When we get back to Courscant they can send a team here,"

He was right, but that didn't make her feel any better about the possibility of leaving others that were being held captive there.  If they never made it out of there however, then the New Republic would never know what was going on on Borleias, making getting out of there alive with those they had rescued their first priority.  

Some had already been implanted with symbiotes but were still to weak for the symbiote inside them to have any control.  Their only hope was that the New Republic doctors would be able to find a way to remove it.  

There was an eerie silence as they hurried along towards the hanger.  

"How come the warning klaxon hasn't gone off?"  She said.  By now someone must have noticed that two of the Jedi prisoners were no longer in their cells.

"Because I disabled it," Zekk replied as they turned a corner.

        There was a door on the right that opened when Zekk hit the release.  They had reached the hanger – and there was a firefight going on inside.  Laser fire was pouring out from the cannons belonging to one of the shuttles docked in there.  From the small cockpit window Lex could be seen taking out trooper after trooper with her commandeered ship.

        Before their presence could be noticed, Zekk shouted for them to make a run for the ship while he covered them.

        Lex set the laser cannons on automatic fire and left the cockpit to help Jaina and Ganner get the others on board.

        There was so much blaster fire Zekk was having a hard time blocking every beam that was shot in his direction.  The ones he actually managed to aim somewhere hit a soldier in some vital area before slumping to the ground, presumably dead.

        His streak of remaining un-hit ended when a blaster bolt grazed the back of his leg, making him falter.  His concentration was gone.  Without it, he wasn't fast enough to block the next laser beam that pounded into his shoulder…

Jaina turned around in time to see Zekk getting shot in the shoulder but still managing to keep his defenses up long enough to swat aside a bolt aimed at his head.

        Without hesitation, she powered up her blade and charged after him, ignoring the shouts coming from Ganner and Lex. 

        Before she could reach him, he took what looked to be a fatal shot to the chest and went down.  She didn't even have time to register his injuries as she heaved him to his feet, half-carrying, half-dragging him towards the ship.  She could see Ganner and Lex close by, providing cover.

She heaved Zekk inside the open hatch, and a moment later heard it closing as Lex and Ganner came aboard.  Lex immediately took off for what Jaina assumed was the cockpit.  She knew she should go with her.  That Lex was going to need an experienced pilot to get out of what would likely be an assault from the air, but she couldn't just leave Zekk.

        She felt him stirring on deck in front of her.

        "So, you couldn't let me die, huh?"  A barely conscious Zekk said to her.

        She tried to make light of the situation; even when without an examination she knew how serious his injuries must be.  "Don't read too much into it,"

        His chuckle turned into a hacking cough and he said, "I won't," before closing his eyes.


	17. Cleaning Up

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:  CLEANING UP

        He felt Tahiri panicking because it was taking forever to cut through the bonds on his hands, so he reached out to reassure her.  It might have worked better if there wasn't the chance that at any moment the altered creatures would stop arguing and realize what they were trying to do.

When she was finally able to cut through them completely, he saw her sigh in relief as he took blade from her so he could free her own hands.  Since his hands were no longer tied, it took him half the time to cut hers off.  He had cut through the restraints on his ankles and was handing her the blade so she could do the same when he felt a sharp pain in his spine and his face was pushed against the muddy earth.  The next minute he was hauled to his feet and shoved towards the fire.  Tahiri chose that moment to stick out her bound legs and the creature tripped over them.  The act earned her a smack in the face, but Anakin used the commotion to grab the fallen vibroblade and stab the creature towering over Tahiri.

        By that point, every remaining altered human had turned their attention to the two Jedi who were trying to escape and began advancing towards them.

        The situation was hopeless, but at least Anakin had his hands and feet free to fight.  Tahiri still had her legs bound together.  He carefully lobbed the vibroblade in the air towards her and Tahiri caught it with ease.  She had barely started cutting when Anakin took up a fighting stance to prepare himself for the creatures closing in on him.

        Before a bloody massacre could begin, something shot out from the trees and hit the creature in the chest.  It took Anakin a second to identify the object as a sort of dart.  The human stuttered and stumbled before collapsing to the ground in a heap.

        Before any of the other creatures could advance on Anakin, the forest seemed to rain with these darts, almost taking out a creature with every shot.  Some even needed to be hit twice before they dropped to the ground.

        When no one was left standing except Anakin, the Jedi could see movement from within the trees.  He watched as his brother and Tenal Ka emerged, followed by a dozen or so of Baxter's men.

        "Are they dead?"  Anakin asked them.  Tahiri had joined him then at his side, looking equally curious.

        "No, they're just knocked out," Jacen said.  "They were shot with enough tranquillizer to bring down a wampa,"

        "What are they going to do with them now?"  Tahiri asked.

        "Captain Baxter was able to convince the New Republic that it would be in their best interests to study these humans.  If it turns out they are able to help them, then there may be a chance for anyone else who the Yuuzhan Vong infect with this _sickness_," Tenal Ka explained.  "There is a ship coming first thing in the morning to take them,"

        They watched as Baxter's men placed stun cuffs and binders on each one of the unconscious humans before hauling them to the feet.        "Come on, let's get you two back to the village," Jacen said, looking his brother and Tahiri over.  "You two look like you could use a visit with Trentholm,"

        Neither Anakin nor Tahiri argued as Jacen and Tenal Ka lead them back to the settlement.  Now that it was all over, Anakin felt exhaustion and the pain of his injuries starting to set in.  There was nothing more he wanted then to go to sleep at that very moment.

        The next several days were spent helping the villagers clean up the mess that had once been their newly established village.  When the New Republic ship had arrived to pick up the creatures, they had left behind several architects that were redesigning the buildings lost in the explosion.  It was going to take time and a lot of work, but in the end at least the settlers of Trianna had not lost another home.  And with the altered humans gone, it was once again a safe place to send refugees.  Word had been sent that the first group was due to arrive at the end of the week.

        All in all, Jacen felt they had managed to do a pretty good job of their assignment there.  Lives had been lost, but nowhere near the numbers that could have been.

        They were scheduled to leave Trianna within the hour.  Jacen had packed the last of his things and was just entering the _Falcon _whenhe heard voices coming from the lounge area.  He stood in the doorway catching the tail end of Tenal Ka's conversation with her mother.  When she turned around and saw him, he said quickly, "I wasn't evesdropping, I promise,"

        "I know you weren't,"

        "Are you going to tell me what that was all about?"

        She chose her words carefully before speaking.  "I am going home to Hapes for awhile, Jacen.  My father is ill and instead of T'a C'hume taking over his duties, I will go in his place,"

        "Is he all right?" 

        Tenal Ka shrugged.  "They think it might have something to do with his heart, which makes no sense because he has been in perfect health his entire life."  She sighed.  "They are still running tests of course.  My mother has called in the best doctor's from all over the Hapes Cluster,"

        "I'd offer to go with you, but I have a feeling you're going to turn me down,"

        "I would like nothing more then for you to come with me," she began, "but I think it is best for the both of us if I return home alone," 

        Jacen had figured she would say as much, so he simply nodded.  "How long are you going to be gone?"  He had been bracing himself for the answer since before he had asked the question.

        "I don't know," she answered honestly.

        "Just promise me one thing," he began.  "that you won't go and get married while you're there, okay?"  He was only half-joking when he said it.

        She gave him a small, but brief smile. "I will try not to,"

        "Anyways," he said, breaking the awkwardness that followed.  "We're going to be taking off soon, so I thought I'd let you know in case you have any last minute packing to do, even though I'm sure you've been packed for days now,"

        "That is correct, Jacen,"

        "Okay, well, I'll see you back here later,"

        "I will come with you to say good bye to Baxter and the others," she offered.

        He nodded and she followed him out of the ship.

        "Need a hand?"  Anakin asked, poking his head in Tahiri's room.

        "I think I have a handle on the situation," she said, forcing the zipper on her duffle bag closed.

        "We'll be leaving shortly," he said to her.

        "Is that a hint, Anakin?"  She said, coming around to face him.

        He shrugged, innocently.  "I'm just letting you know in case there's any good bye's you want to say,"

        "And by that you mean my dad?"

        So much for being subtle.  "Only if you want to,"

        "I didn't want to, but I did it anyways," she told him.  "We said our good byes earlier this afternoon,"

        "Tahiri, you don't have to come back to Courscant with us," Anakin started to say.  "If you wanted to stay here - "

        "I would tell you," she finished for him.  "Anakin, this place isn't my home anymore then it is yours or Jacen's or even Tenal Ka's.  And just because there's a guy here who happens to be my real dad, but hasn't bothered to be a father to me my whole life doesn't change that.  There's this whole other side of my life here that I'm not ready for yet.  When I am, I'll come back, but not before that.  I told Erik that, and I'm telling you that now,"

        He wasn't sure if he believed her, but it was her decision after all.  "As long as you're sure,"

        "_I_ am.  Now, let's get out of here.  My real family is waiting for me on Courscant,"


	18. Choices

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:  CHOICES

          The operation on Borleias had been shut down.  Perhaps it would have been more accurate to say that it looked like it had never existed in the first place.  By the time New Republic forces had made it back there, the entire complex had been torched to the ground.  Nothing but the word of four Jedi and the living proof of nine humans, several of which carried symbiotes inside them that, thus far, the best specialists the New Republic had no idea how to remove.

        Jaina knew the operation on Borleias was far from dead.  She found it unlikely that the Yuuzhan Vong would stop after one try.  As for the moment, however, they had no leads to follow and no information whatsoever that gave a clue as to where the facility might have moved.  For all they knew, it could be happening on a Yuuzhan Vong worldship.  

They had managed to save some lives in the process, and even those that were implanted in symbiotes had not fallen completely under its power.  A team of doctors had come up with the idea of using a sort of antiseptic drug that numbed the creature inside, giving the host the ability of free will.  There was still the question of removal.  The symbiote seemed to be attached to vital organs and for the moment there seemed no way to remove it without killing the host.

Zekk was recovering in the med center.  Jaina had only been to see him once since he had regained consciousness.  It wasn't as if she was avoiding him – not completely anyway – there just always seemed to be some meeting she, Lex and Ganner were being called to since their return.  Everything they had seen on Borleias both the New Republic council and the military wanted to know.  After the first few days though, she was beginning to feel like she was reading from a script because she had to keep repeating herself.

The meetings where the only times she had been unable to avoid Ganner, but she always got out of there as soon as it was over so she wouldn't have to talk with him.  She didn't care if she appeared childish because he deserved it.

He had been leaving her messages like crazy, and she had yet to respond to any one of them.  She had managed to avoid talking to him altogether until he finally cornered her in the training room in the Imperial Palace a week after their return from Borleias.

        "Mind if I join you?"  He said uncertainly.

        "As a matter of fact I do," she said tersely, and headed for the door.

        "You can't avoid me forever,"

        "And why can't I?  You deserve it," she said, unleashing her temper on him.

        "You're right, I probably deserve it.  All I ask is that you hear me out,"   

        "There's nothing you have to say that I want to hear," she said sharply.   "You made me believe Zekk was dead when you knew all along what he was planning.  Were you hoping that if we escaped he would be left behind?  Do you really hate him that much?"

        He stared at her, saying nothing, giving Jaina her answer.  She went to walk passed him, but she stopped to say, "whatever we had, it was over when we landed on Borleias,"

        "No, Jaina, it was over long before Borleias," Ganner corrected her.  Jaina looked at him stunned and he continued, "he's the one you're in love with.  I thought if I waited long enough you would get over him, but I was a fool for thinking that.  I can see now that's never going to happen.  I'll never be anything but second best to you Jaina,"

        "And that gave you the right to go and do what you did?"  She shot at him.

        "No, what I did was wrong, I know that.  But it helped open my eyes to the truth: you don't love me and you never will,"

        "This isn't my fault, Ganner,"

        "No, it's mine.  I knew that from the moment I got involved with you.  But I won't make the same mistake again.  Good bye, Jaina,"

        He left the training room without another word to her, leaving Jaina feeling like that would be the last time she ever spoke to Ganner Rhysode.

        It was late that same night when Jaina heard a knock on her door.  With her parents off on another diplomatic mission and her brothers still away, she was the only one around to answer it.

        She knew who it was long before answering, but that didn't keep the surprise from showing up on her face when she opened the door.

        "Surprised to see me?"  Zekk said with a grin.

        "Yeah.  I mean nobody told me you were being released,"

        He continued to grin.  "Jedi don't make great patients, so they were more than willing to get rid of me,"

        "I meant to come by and see you," she told him.

        He waved his hand dismissively.  "It's okay.  I'm not one for hospitals much myself since Peckum,"

        "Do you want to come in?"

        He scratched the back of his head.  "I probably shouldn't,"

        She noticed for the first time the bag slung over his shoulder.  "You're leaving," she said simply.

        "But not in the way that you think," he said quickly, knowing how Jaina's mind worked.  "Your Uncle is sending me on a mission,"

        "But you just got released from the med center," she argued.  

        "Yeah, well, this mission is kind of important.  I'm going alone, but I could always use a co-pilot," he said, raising his eyebrows at her.

        It was his way of asking her to go without having to come out and say it.

        "I can't go with you, Zekk,"

        "I know," he said, no trace of disappointment in his voice.  "I never expected you to say yes, but it was worth a try.  I'll be back," he promised.  "It might take a few weeks but I'll be back,"

        He left without a good bye and was nearly halfway down the hall when he stopped and turned back to face her.

        "Did you ever get my birthday present?"

        She had completely forgotten about it.  "Anakin gave it to me but I never got around to opening it,"

        "You should," was all he said before disappearing down the hall.

        Jaina walked into her room and opened the drawer where she had shoved Zekk's gift.  She had never given it more than a fleeting thought before, but now that he had mentioned it, she figured there was no harm in looking at it.      

        She stared at it, recognizing his handwriting scrawled on to a piece of paper stuck to a small, square object.  The note read:

        _I finally managed to track down Raynar and get him to make you a copy.  I hope you like it,_

_                                                                                                  Zekk_

More curious then ever now, she unwrapped the gift.  It turned out to be a holo chip.  Staring at it closely, she walked out of her room and into her mother's office, where she put it in the holo player in there and turned it on.  She fell back into a chair and watched it.

        It was the night of their graduation from the Jedi Academy.  Raynar's parents had given him a holo cam as part of his graduation present.  She remembered it all as if it had happened the other day instead of two years ago.  Raynar had been insistent about getting their last night together on Yavin Four on his holo cam.  When Lusa wasn't distracting him, he had spent the majority of the night filming her, Jacen, Tenal Ka, and Zekk.  

        Watching herself now, she realized just how young she was then.  It wasn't that long ago, but she felt she had done a lot of growing up since then – and that was largely due to the war.  She felt a pang of sadness watching it.  Not one of them had known that not too far into the future their home would be invaded by a murderous race.  They would never be able to go back to those days.

        She continued watching for a while longer; seeing herself and Zekk, wading together in the lake and splashing water at each other.

        She shut the holo player off after that scene and sat in silence.  She would have never looked at it if Zekk had not said anything, and now that she had she almost wished she hadn't.  It brought back what Ganner had said to her that day in the training room.  It stirred up too many old feelings that she had spent nearly a whole year trying to bury.

She sat there for a long time before coming to a decision.

        Zekk wasn't in his apartment.  Jaina had checked inside thoroughly for him, before rushing back through the upper levels and into the Imperial Palace.  From there, she found the nearest turbolift and rode it up to the docking platform where she knew the _Lightning Rod_ would - hopefully - still be docked.

        She could see the ship in plain view when she stepped out of the lift, and it's owner was almost inside.

        "Zekk wait!"  She shouted to him and ran hard for the ship.  He didn't seem to hear her.  The hatch was closing...

        "Zekk!"

        The hatch stopped closing and the _Lightning_ _Rod's_ captain appeared on the boarding ramp.

        "Jaina," he said, looking surprised.  "What are you doing here?"

        "I've changed my mind," she said, trying to catch her breath.

        He regarded the travel bag slung over her shoulder and eyed her doubtfully.  "Are you sure?  Because an hour ago you said you couldn't,"

        "That was an hour ago.  This is now.  I want to go with you,"

        There was a long pause until Jaina said, "Zekk, I don't know what's going to happen with us, but I know I have to go with you now,"

        "What about Ganner?"

        He had to bring him up.  "This doesn't have anything to do with him.  It's about me and you,"

        She watched him think it over carefully before finally saying, "does this mean I have to let you fly?"

        "Only if you want this to be a pleasant trip," she said coyly.

        "I have a feeling this going to be a very interesting trip," he said, taking her bag and leading her up the boarding ramp.

        Jaina had no doubt that would prove to be true.


	19. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

        The Grand Audience Chamber on Yavin Four was full to capacity for the first time since the beginning of the war.  Both Jedi Knights and trainees sat side by side, watching the dozen or so Jedi apprentice's that stood off to the side of the stage, eagerly waiting for their names to be called.  Tahiri Veila was among that group, grinning more broadly then Jacen had ever seen her.  When Luke Skywalker called out her name, she took in a calming breath before proceeding to cross the platform amidst the cheering and applause from the crowd.  Facing those assembled in the grand chamber, she ignited her brilliant blue saber as Luke pronounced her a Jedi Knight and all the responsibilities that went along with it.

        Jacen joined the others in clapping as Tahiri took her spot with the other newly knighted Jedi on the stage, but his mind though, was anywhere but on the ceremony in front of him.  Tenal Ka was gone.  She had left soon after their return to Courscant, and he seriously believed that he was the main reason behind her decision to return to the Hapes Cluster.  He understood that her father was sick and that she wanted to be there with him, but he highly doubted she would have freely offered to take his role in the Hapan court if things had been different between the two of them.  If she really thought they needed some time away from each other the only way that would happen is if they were apart.  Maybe then, being separated would not be such a bad thing.  It would give them both a chance to think about some things and gain some perspective on their relationship, so that the next time they saw each other it would be nothing like the awkwardness they had experienced on Trianna.

Upon their return from the planet that was soon to become home for thousands of refugees across the galaxy, Luke Skywalker had greeted Tahiri with the news that she was ready to graduate to the next level of being a Jedi.  That had not been the only surprise that day.  He and Anakin had gone home to an empty apartment, finding a hastily scribbled note on the kitchen table from their sister explaining that she had gone with Zekk on some mission to the Outer Rim.

        Jacen had trouble believing that his sister had just upped and left with Zekk without telling anyone.  From what he understood, the two of them were barely on speaking terms, yet she had chosen to go on an assignment alone with him and had left no word when she expected to be back.  He had been meaning to ask Ganner what he thought about it but had been unable to find the time to talk to the other Jedi.   

        The ceremony was over now, and Jacen watched as his Anakin was one of the first to rush up to the front to congratulate Tahiri, closely followed by Kam and Tionne.

        As Jacen made his own way up to the front to join them, the troubling matter with Jaina and Zekk seemed insignificant compared to his own dilemma that he was currently facing.  Since returning from Trianna, he had been struggling to sort out what his changing feelings for Tahiri meant.  He tried to forget about them or at least put them to the back of his mind.  When that didn't work, he simply tried not dwelling on it more than was necessary, knowing that path would only lead to trouble.

        "Coming out of hyperspace... now," Jaina announced and pulled back on the throttle, allowing the green and blue world of Dantooine to come into view.        

        "We're being hailed," Zekk said, regarding the flashing light on the communications board.

        "These Chiss don't waste time, do they?"  Jaina said, checking her instruments in front of her.  The blips on her screen identified four small ships as Chiss Claw crafts closing in on their position.

        Zekk turned on the comm and Jaina heard a man's voice say, "unidentified vessel, please identify yourself and state your business,"

        Jaina flicked a switch from the controls in front of her.  "This is Jaina Solo aboard the _Lightning Rod_, requesting permission to land.  My co-pilot and I have business with Blue,"

        'Blue' was the code Luke had devised for them to use so the Chiss would know they had been sent by the Jedi Master.

        "Acknowledged, _Lightning Rod_," the same male's voice said.  "This is Colonel Jagged Fel.  I'm sending you the coordinates for a course to follow.  Do not stray from it – you have been warned,"

        "Affirmative," Jaina acknowledged before clicking off the comm.  She looked at the course they'd been sent and set it into the ship's navigation system.  "You know," Jaina began, bringing the ship around, "we've only just met this Colonel Fel, and already I don't like him.  This is going to make for some interesting negotiations," she said to Zekk and followed the Chiss Crawlers towards Dantooine's atmosphere.

THE END 

I hope you enjoyed the story.  This will be the last Star Wars story I'm going to be writing for a bit.  I'm going to be focusing on writing my Harry Potter stories for the next little while.  Happy reading!

Until the next story,

~Buffybot


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